


A Fortunate Wound

by starkaryen



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Blindfolds, Blow Jobs, Bottom Hannibal, Bottom Will, Eventual Smut, First Kiss, Fluff and Smut, Frottage, Hand Jobs, Hannibal is Hannibal, Hannibal is a Cannibal, M/M, POV Alternating, Police Officer Will Graham, Power Bottom Will, Rimming, Surgeon Hannibal, Top Hannibal, Top Will, Uniform Kink, both of them have uniform kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-25 03:01:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 83,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6177574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkaryen/pseuds/starkaryen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will Graham, a police officer in Baltimore, is shot while he’s on duty. The surgeon on call in the ER is Hannibal Lecter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CarpeDiemForLife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDiemForLife/gifts), [redkakumei](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redkakumei/gifts).



> · [Meduszoa](http://meduszoa.tumblr.com/) drew this [GORGEUS fanart](http://meduszoa.tumblr.com/post/140640650753/will-wanted-to-turn-his-help-down-tell-him-he) of the fic (and it killed me because OMG♥), and [this one](https://twitter.com/meduszoa/status/737235396678057984) (BLINDFOLDED WILL!!! *_____*). Also, she made [these (NSFW) drawings](http://seduszoa.tumblr.com/post/152572027508/will-dragged-his-hands-up-to-hannibals-tie-and) for Chapter 5 (so look at them only after reading that chapter!) !!!!!!!
> 
> · I made [this edit](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/post/141264415873/a-fortunate-wound-fanfic-will-graham-a-police) for the fic on tumblr.
> 
> · I have a spotify playlist, and since 8tracks is an ass for people outside the US right now, I don't think I'll be publishing it there. So [here you go](https://open.spotify.com/user/kate_angel/playlist/5Lde56Ol8mKK0cbJZF72pY), in case you want to take a look at the songs I'm using to write this :)
> 
> \--
> 
> Okay, so. Hi! :)  
> [CarpeDiemForLife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDiemForLife/) prompted me to write something where Will and Hannibal would meet while they were still a police office and a surgeon, the normal scenario being when Will was hurt (as it happened in canon). When she suggested this, I thought, 'okay, I want to write a small fic since I really like this prompt and this scenario.' But oh, was I wrong... It seems like I had a lot more feelings about this AU than I thought, and it has obviously turned out to be MUCH longer than I intended.
> 
>  
> 
> A few other things:
> 
> · I will try to publish once a week (on Fridays/Saturdays, probably), since right now I have a fairly good amount of chapters written. If there is any change, I'll surely let you know it in the notes :)  
> · I've chosen to make both Will and Hannibal younger here, and some things will be different than the canon, obviously, but all will be explained sooner or later.  
> · Once I started writing it, I was inspired by [this incredibly beautiful art](http://nnarinn.tumblr.com/post/125085030956/au-where-a-young-surgeon-hannibal-and-a-young-cop) of doctor!Hannibal and cop!Will, [this one](http://feredir.tumblr.com/post/118569677779/telerafairlyreie-requested-hannibal-dressed-as-a) as Hannibal as a doctor, and by [these gorgeous manips](http://llento.tumblr.com/post/66595509154/surgeon-hannibal-lecter-police-will-gragam-edit) of Hugh Dancy as a cop - Mads as a doctor. (Edit to add [these ones](http://spvcepup.tumblr.com/post/141422422056) too. PERFECT)  
> · I could’ve made up another partner for Will, but I love Beverly so much, so I thought, why not introduce her here too!  
> · There _will_ be an eventual plot apart from Will and Hannibal being thirsty for each other, I swear.  
>  · Maybe there will be a playlist for the fic, as I usually look for songs to write my fics. If there is, I'll make sure to include them in the chapters' notes :)  
> · I usually don't like to spoil too many things in the tags, but if you think that I should warn about something (whatever it is), let me know and I'll include it.
> 
>  
> 
> Last but not least, a huge THANK YOU to both [CarpeDiemForLife](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDiemForLife/) and [redkakumei](http://archiveofourown.org/users/redkakumei/) for beta reading this and being supportive and patient with my constant questions, for suggesting some of the ideas in the fic, and for being super awesome in general ♥.  
> Any other mistakes that there may be in this work, are entirely mine.
> 
>  
> 
> \----
> 
> If you like my fics, all information + links about my writing are [here](https://about.me/mizumohno).
> 
> Say hello to me @ [twitter](https://twitter.com/mizumohno) and [tumblr](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/) :)

Will had experienced pain before. He once had been stabbed in the shoulder while on duty, and it had hurt like hell, a blinding, blazing pain that had bit through both skin and muscle. But when the stretcher rolled from the ambulance and into the ER, the only thing he could think of was that nothing, _nothing_ had ever hurt like this.

“Give me 15 milligrams of morphine, and page the doctor on call!” a man shouted while they sprinted down a hallway.

The stretcher took a turn and Will grunted, raised his arm unintentionally to touch his wound, but one of the nurses held his hand down.

He shut his eyes, sure that he was going to pass out. In fact, he wished for it. If he blacked out he would stop feeling that intense pain, but he opened his eyes again when they guided him into what looked like the operating room. They moved him from the stretcher to the table, and he clenched his jaw and grunted again.

“What do we have?” a new voice said, entering the room. Will detected an accent.

“Male, 28, gunshot in the abdomen.”

“Mr. Graham,” the voice said, much closer to him now. Will opened his eyes again and focused on the face above him. “Mr. Graham, we’re going to sedate you. Take a deep breath, everything’s going to be fine…”

Will wanted to chuckle and tell him that it was easy for him to say that, since he wasn’t the one with a hole in his belly, but the only thing that came out of his throat was another grunt. Someone placed a mask over his mouth and he breathed in. He kept looking at the doctor, and before drifting into unconsciousness, his last thought was that the doctor looked _very_ calm… And it was oddly comforting.

****

Will groaned, and he looked at the nurse who was touching something on the IV stand beside his bed. He opened his mouth before realizing that his throat was incredibly dry and sore. He raised a hand to try to reach her, but found that it was harder than he thought; his brain was working slowly, and his limbs didn’t seem to respond to his thoughts. Luckily, the woman realized he was awake, and she turned to him.

“Mr. Graham, don’t try to move. Here, you can drink now,” she said, taking a plastic cup from the table beside the bed and bringing it to him.

He drank a couple of gulps and coughed on the second one, but he felt slightly better afterwards.

“Where…?”

“You’re in the recovery room, Mr. Graham. You’ve been here all night after the surgery, and you’ll be transferred to a room shortly.”

He nodded slightly, and then looked around. It was, indeed, a recovery room. The air filled with a gloomy sensation, the beds divided by white curtains, the coughs and groans of people whom he couldn’t see, the nurses going from one place to another…

Will felt really sleepy, probably due to the drugs they were administering to him, so he dozed in the time that it took them to come back to his bed and tell him that they were moving him. And so they did. They covered him with a thicker sheet, since he was naked from the waist up except for a wide bandage around his abdomen, and they took him to a much brighter room. Then the nurses started moving things around the room, setting the IV stand beside his bed again, setting the machines…

“Good afternoon,” a familiar voice said behind the door.

Will turned and looked at the tall man that had entered. He would be in his late thirties, his blond hair was perfectly combed backwards, he was dressed in a white coat, and in his hands he had the papers that Will guessed would contain the details of his surgery; he was the doctor who had operated on him.

“I’m glad to find you awake.”

“I’m glad to be awake, too,” Will said unenthusiastically, and his voice sounded like a stranger’s, dragging every vowel.

One of the nurses had put a pillow under him so he wasn’t completely lying down, but not sitting up either. So when the nurses left the room and the doctor approached the foot of his bed, Will was able to look into the man’s eyes for a fraction of a second before dropping his gaze again.

“I guess you don’t remember it, but I visited you in the recovery room,” the doctor said, looking briefly at the papers and then at him, locking his eyes on Will’s.

“No, I don’t remember…” Will said, and furrowed his brow when he tried to move a little. The drugs kept the pain in check, but the discomfort was very present.

“It’s completely natural, you were still under the influence of the anesthesia. But since this is our first encounter for you, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Hannibal Lecter and I will be the doctor in charge of your recovery.”

“Will Graham, although I’m sure you already know that,” he said a little cutting, but the doctor smiled anyway.

“I’m glad that your sense of humor is intact,” Dr. Lecter said, and he wanted to tell him he wasn’t exactly joking, but he stayed silent. “Mr. Graham, the operation went really well. You were very lucky.”

“I don’t feel exactly lucky,” Will said. He tried to chuckle, but frowned and tensed the second he felt the pain hitting him despite the drugs.

“A gunshot in the abdomen could’ve had many complications, it could’ve been fatal even. But it didn’t hit any organs or critical spots. Even if you can’t see it right now… it was indeed a fortunate wound.”

Will smiled bitterly, shifting his head a little on the pillow. Luck was the last thing he would call what had happened to him.

“I’ll thank the shooter for his bad aim, then.”

The doctor smiled and leaned forwards a little, putting both hands in the bed’s arch.

“How do you know he wasn’t aiming exactly there?”

“ _Something_ tells me that wasn’t his intention…”

Will grunted again and felt like his limbs weighed a ton.

“I’ll leave you to rest now, Mr. Graham. I’ll come back to check on you, and we’ll see how you progress.”

Will realized he had closed his eyes at some point, soothed by the doctor’s voice and the beeping of the machines. He tried to open them to look one last time at the man, but when he managed it, he was already alone in the room.

****

“Mr. Graham, please, you have to go back to the bed…”

“I’m just going to the bathroom. I’m not escaping, okay?” Will said, a little too bluntly.

“Please go back immediately, you _can’t_ get up,” the nurse repeated, reaching her arms out to him, but not touching him.

“I just want to pee for myself, is that really _too_ much to ask?”

Will turned around in a clumsy movement as he said that, and once he had, he noticed the newcomer right behind the nurse. He pursed his lips while he leaned against the bathroom’s doorframe and tightened the grip on the IV stand he was dragging with him. Will tried not to let his face show the intense pain he was feeling in that moment, since he didn’t want to give the nurse the satisfaction.

“Ms. Carter, could I have the room alone with my patient?” Dr. Lecter asked her, and Will knew it was more out of politeness than a real request.

“Sure, Doctor. Perhaps you can knock some sense into him…” she said, mumbling the last part.

The nurse went out and closed the door behind her. Will sighed and closed his eyes, feeling his legs starting to shake from the exertion of standing. The doctor was beside him before he could fall down, and he grasped him by the elbow. Will wanted to turn his help down, tell him he could walk by himself, but the truth was, he couldn’t. So he leaned on the doctor and the IV stand to go back to the bed, and when he lay down on the mattress, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks…” he said through clenched teeth.

Will looked at his doctor and found a smirk on his lips.

“I thought the nurses were exaggerating when they said you were a hard patient,” he said, and Will huffed a little. “You know, as much as you don’t want to hear it, Ms. Carter was right. You need to rest to be able to heal properly, and that includes not standing up. Not even to pee.”

Will felt himself blushing a little, since Dr. Lecter had caught him in a rather embarrassing situation and he hated to have so little power over himself, but he still nodded.

“I know, it’s just…” he said, but he stopped talking and shook his head.

The doctor sat in the chair next to his bed, and Will frowned, surprised.

“There’s something else bothering you, isn’t there? Something that’s not the wound.”

“I thought you were a surgeon, not a psychiatrist,” he said brusquely.

“I’m actually thinking about switching careers.”

Will looked at him furrowing his brow a little, wondering if he was joking, but the other held his gaze with an unaltered expression, so Will just blinked and looked away.

“They told me today that I’ll have to retire from my job as a police officer…”

In that moment, Will wondered why on earth he was telling _him_ that, a person he barely knew, and with whom his relationship was one of patient and doctor. But he was, and there was no way of taking it back now.

“Because of the gunshot wound?” the doctor asked, but he kept talking before Will could answer. “Do your superiors know that you won’t have any physical damages?”

Will barked a laugh then, which made his wound hurt, so he stopped altogether, grimacing and putting his hand on top of his stomach over the gown.

“Yeah, that’s… _not_ the problem. It’s right here,” Will said, tapping his temple with a finger.

“I don’t see how a gunshot would render you unsuitable for your work.”

“It’s not… It’s not the gunshot _per se_ , it’s the reason why I was shot. I… couldn’t pull the trigger. I had the guy in range, and I just… I froze. I couldn’t do it. And it’s not the first time that’s happened to me.”

“Were you scared of taking a life? That wouldn’t be so strange.”

“No, it’s wasn’t-“

Will fell silent and pursed his lips. He looked at the doctor, and saw him tipping his head with the slightest frown in his brow, and Will swallowed hard. He wondered once again _why_ he was telling him all that, but then he smiled a little and shook his head.

“You know, I can see why you want to switch careers. You’re good at making people tell you things…”

The doctor smiled then, and Will noticed that his annoyance was mostly gone. And for some reason, the doctor had something to do with that. There was something in his composure, in his confidence, that made him feel reassured, somehow.

In that moment, a pang of pain spread from his abdomen, and he grimaced again, tugging at the gown in the absence of anything else to grab. He felt the doctor’s hand on his shoulder as he stood up, and when the pain receded, Will looked up at him and realized how exhausted he was.

“I’m going to increase the morphine dose for a few days, Mr. Graham,” the doctor said, and his hand slipped away from his shoulder. “I’ll lower it once you start healing.”

“Will…” he said, dragging every syllable like it weighed a ton. “Call me Will.”

For some reason, the formality of his own name sounded strange in that moment, in the man’s lips.

The doctor started adjusting the monitor on the IV stand, and Will felt the almost immediate effect of the morphine flowing through his veins, clouding his mind and taking away the pain. He dropped his head onto the pillow, and only then he realized how tense he had been.

“Get some rest, Will. I’ll come back to check on you tomorrow, all right?”

“Uhm… Yes. Thank you, Doctor…”

Will realized he had closed his eyes at some point, so he frowned a little. He fell asleep without waiting for the man to leave the room.

****

Will opened his eyes at the two knocks in his door. He had been nodding off all morning, sleepy because of the morphine and interrupted only by the relentless visits of the nurses to check on him, to check his blood pressure, his IV stand, to bring him his food and medicine… But the nurses didn’t wait after knocking, so he cleared his throat and invited whomever it was in. Much to his surprise, Beverly Katz appeared behind the door with a cautious smile.

Beverly was his partner and, being honest, the only colleague from work he actually liked, and probably the only one who liked _him_. And much like Will, although for very different reasons, she was way overqualified for the job they did.

“Hey, McClane, can I come in?”

Will smiled at her joke, and he nodded. He tried to sit up in the bed, but only managed to move a little upwards, resting his back on the pillows. Beverly came in and went to the chair beside his bed, where she sat.

“Damn, Will, you look awful.”

“Thanks Beverly, that’s so kind of you,” he said.

Beverly smiled, and then she proceeded to tell him how things were going at the station, how much she hated working with Bennett, the new partner she had been assigned to. Will relaxed around her while he nodded or arched his eyebrows reacting at what she told him, but at some point, she just ran out of things to tell him, and Will knew the only thing left was the subject they had been avoiding.

“So… real talk, Will. How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” he said, shrugging a little.

Beverly tried to smile, but she frowned and looked down, and he immediately knew why.

“Bev,” Will said in a serious tone so she would look up at him again, and when she did, he tilted his head. “This is _not_ your fault, you know that, right?”

She huffed out a laugh, and then she leaned backwards on the chair.

“I know, it was _your_ damn fault for not listening to me and going in without backup,” she said weakly, but Will knew she didn’t actually blame him, even if she was completely right. “But I should’ve known that you weren’t going to wait. I should’ve stayed beside you, and I didn’t.”  
“Bev…”

“I know, I know. I don’t blame myself for you wound, I blame the fucker who shot you. But still...”

They sighed almost at the same time, and then Beverly’s expression changed, and she pursed her lips.

“Well, the good thing is that you look very pretty in that gown, Will.”

Will rolled his eyes, and he would’ve snorted if he hadn’t felt too numb to do it.

****

“Hello, Dr. Lecter,” Will said, sitting up in the bed as the man entered his room.

“Good morning, Will,” the other said in a cheerful tone. Will wondered if the doctor felt this animated every day in a place like a hospital, which wasn’t exactly the happiest place.

The doctor went to the side of his bed, a smile tugging at his lips, and he glanced at the papers he held in his hands. Will couldn’t help but stare at them, at those long, delicate fingers that had surely saved more lives than he had as a cop.

“How did you feel last night? Did you feel any pain or excessive discomfort?”

“No, actually I slept almost through the entire night,” Will said, and he thought that, drugs or no drugs, that was impressive for him.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said, leaving the papers on top of the near table. “What about your spirits? Are you feeling any better?”

Will snorted a low laugh. “Are you sure you’re still a surgeon, and you’re not already working as a psychiatrist…?”

The doctor smiled a little, and he tilted his head.

“Maybe I’m just concerned about you, Will.”

He bit the inside of his lower lip, a little thrown off at his words.

“I feel… fine. Better, I guess.”

“That’s good,” he said, and neither of them said anything for a long couple of seconds. Then, the doctor shifted in place. “Okay Will, I need you to lay down a moment so I can check on your stitches.”

Will did as the doctor told him, letting his back slide down on the bed to lie flat, and moving the sheets down to his waist so it would be easier for the other. He put on a pair of latex gloves and moved the gown away carefully. When Will felt his hands touching his skin, he tensed, even though they had done that a few times already. He saw the doctor completely focused on removing the bandage and on the wound, but he could also see the hint of a smile on his lips.

“Okay, you can cover yourself now,” he told him while he took off the gloves. “It’s healing very well. The scar will be quite an anecdote to tell anyone who sees it.”

“I’m not sure that I’ll let many people see it,” he said without thinking, and then he realized how that sounded, so he cleared his throat.

Will saw the smile on the other’s lips, now much wider, but the doctor was polite enough not to make any comment about it.

“I will recommend something to soothe the skin and lessen the scar, if you like,” he said, and then he looked at the watch on his wrist. “As much as I’d like to keep talking, I’m afraid I need to go attend other patients. A nurse will come later to change the bandages.”

“Thanks.”

“It’s my job, Will. And my pleasure”

Will looked at him after sitting up again and covering himself with the sheets, and he frowned at the last part, wondering if he was saying all that just to be polite, but shifted his eyes right away.

“I know it’s your job, but… thanks. Really.”

Will wanted to tell him that he was the first person apart from Beverly that had treated him like an actual person in a long time, but he pursed his lips when the doctor touched his shoulder for a second, and then circled the bed to go to the door. But right when Dr. Lecter was about to go out, he looked at the white table in front of Will’s bed, and he turned around.

“These weren’t here yesterday.”

Will looked at the flowers on top of the table, and shrugged with a knot in his stomach.

“Yeah, they’re… from the station.”

Hannibal smiled and nodded, but Will looked away, a little embarrassed. Most patients would have the room filled with flowers after getting shot in the stomach, but Will had never been a person who had many friends, and now he didn’t have a lot of family.

The following day, the same deliveryman from the previous day came into his room with a new bouquet of flowers, and Will thanked him and watched him leave the room without another word. Will frowned and craned his neck to look at them. All the flowers were red, and Will hadn’t even seen most of those types of flowers before. The deliveryman had told him that there was no card and, for a second, Will wondered if they were from Hannibal Lecter, since he had asked him about the other flowers the day before. But he erased that thought from his mind… or at least, he tried to. Why would his doctor bother to send him a bouquet of flowers…? And then he thought of one reason: out of pity, having seen that he didn’t have many visits, that the only flowers in his room had been from his coworkers. Will didn’t know what to make of that thought, and he wished that he was mistaken. That the flowers weren’t from Hannibal Lecter… or that they weren’t out of pity.

Will got out of bed even though the nurses would yell at him if they caught him standing up, took a single flower and went back to bed with a groan. He inhaled the flower’s scent and smiled, in spite of everything.


	2. Chapter 2

The days he spent in the hospital went by slowly and they couldn’t have been more tedious. Beverly visited him again and brought him a few novels and puzzle books from his house, since she was taking care of his dogs in his absence, and he couldn’t have been more thankful for having _something_ to do. He spent his days reading and sighing with frustration when he felt like he couldn’t spend another minute in that bed, in that room, with the nurses constantly invading his privacy and with a wounded body that didn’t allow him to do very much without him groaning from the pain or huffing from the exertion.

When they finally allowed him to stand up, he planned to spend as much time as he could outside of the room, but he soon discovered that it wasn’t going to be as easy as he had thought. After a simple walk, Will would be as exhausted as if he had just run a few miles, and he cursed under his breath while he returned to his room to lie, once again, in the bed he was beginning to loathe.

After the first few days, Hannibal’s visits – since he had started using his first name in his mind - had become more brief, and in his walks, Will found himself scanning the faces of every person who walked by that was wearing a white coat. His heartbeat quickened every time the door of his room opened, always feeling incredibly disappointed when he saw the face of one of the nurses or the cleaners. When Hannibal _did_ visit him, Will found himself wishing he would stay longer, since he was the only tolerable visitor he had apart from Beverly. But of course, he never told that to Hannibal.

He spent one of those days wandering the hospital’s hallway all morning until he was exhausted, determined to be able to walk more and more each day. When he returned to his room, he almost collapsed in the bed, having strength only to pick up a book from the table beside his bed.

“Fishing?”

Will raised his gaze from the pages, and felt his heart skipping a beat. Dr. Hannibal Lecter stood at the door he had left open when he had returned. He was looking at Will with a little smile tugging at his lips, his hand still on the doorknob.

“Excuse me?” Will asked, frowning.

The doctor’s smile grew wider and he came into the room, closing the door behind him.

“The book,” Hannibal said, pointing at Will’s hands while walking around his bed, as he always did.

Will turned the book in his hands to look at the cover, and he felt the skin of his ears heating as he realized that he _obviously_ meant the book he had been reading only a few seconds ago.

“Oh! Yeah, it’s… a book about fishing,” Will said, and he snorted a laugh at himself.

“So that’s what you do when you’re not in a hospital bed or being shot while on duty?”

The doctor sat in the chair beside him, as he had grown used to do when he came by the room. But Will noticed for the first time that he didn’t have any papers in his hands, or gloves that suggested he was going to check his stitches, even though he hadn’t done that for a few days now. Instead, he was carrying a paper bag that he left on the floor between his feet. Will swallowed twice before answering.

“Yeah, it’s… a hobby. I like it, and I’m good at it.”

Hannibal smiled then, leaning forwards to rest his elbows on his thighs, interlacing his hands in the gap between his knees.

“For some reason, it suits you perfectly.”

Will looked up at him, and he met his eyes. Strangely, he didn’t feel the necessity to look away immediately, as he always did with everyone. Will wanted to tell him that he didn’t actually _know_ him, that their only interactions had been within the hospital’s walls. But Will then wondered _how_ the doctor would be like outside of he hospital, if he would be as composed as he seemed there, if he would use his long, deft fingers to read, or build things, or if he liked spending his free time doing something else entirely. But of course, Will didn’t ask any of that. Instead, he looked away and shrugged, and the doctor sighed a little and leaned backwards in his seat.

“Are you still experiencing any strong pain?” he asked, his voice changing and the tone turning more clinical, professional.

“Just a little pain sometimes, but nothing like a week ago.”

“Good. I’m going to lower the morphine again. I’ll be away on a business trip the rest of the week, so I won’t be able to come and check on you. A colleague will be in charge of my patients, but if you start feeling worse at any moment, all you have to do is call one of the nurses and ask them to increase the morphine again.”

Will nodded, and in that moment, someone knocked and a nurse came in, apologizing when she saw the doctor there, but he told her it was all right and smiled at her while she left a tray with Will’s lunch on the table, beside the flowers. When she left, Hannibal turned to him once again.

“That’s something else I wanted to discuss with you. The nurses told me you’re not eating properly,” Hannibal said then, and Will pursed his lips, even though his tone didn’t actually sound like a doctor’s reprimand.

Will had been eating, but not enough. It wasn’t lack of appetite, it was simply that the thought of the hideous hospital food made him reconsider eating it every time he had to face one of the meals.

Hannibal smiled a little, almost as if he knew what he was thinking, and then he took the paper bag he had brought into the room.

“I’m aware that the hospital food isn’t exactly the finest, so let’s make a deal, Will. I won’t tell the nurses anything about this if you don’t, either.”

Hannibal raised a blue plastic container in his hand, and Will stared at it for a few seconds before looking back at the doctor. He wasn’t sure if he was joking, or if his doctor was _really_ offering him food from outside the hospital. He wondered for a second if that was appropriate for a doctor, or for him as a patient, but the thought was silenced by a low growl coming from his stomach at the thought of food, _any_ food that wasn’t from the hospital.

“I… I won’t tell the nurses,” Will managed to say, shaking his head.

Hannibal smiled wider then, and he got up. The doctor put the container on the rolling table in which Will ate, and moved it closer to him. When Will opened the lid, the mere scent of the food made his mouth water, and when he tried it with the fork Hannibal put on the table, he had to close his eyes for a second. Either that was the best casserole he had ever had in his entire life, or he was even more hungry and sick of the hospital’s food than he had thought. He couldn’t help a little sound coming from his throat after he swallowed it and looked up.

“God, this is… Did you make this?”

“I did,” the doctor said, still standing beside his bed.

“It’s _amazing_. Thank you…”

“Well, I’m glad you like it, although that’s a really poor dish. You should try some of my freshly made meals.”

Will took another bite out of it, only to not have to look at him in that moment, and when he swallowed a sip of water, he looked up again, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“So… do you bring food to all your patients, Dr. Lecter?”

Hannibal smiled again, tilting his head.

“Not all of them. Only the ones I actually like visiting.”

“Why?” Will asked before he was able to stop himself.

“Because out of all my patients, I believe you are the most interesting one.”

Will frowned, and he resisted the need to ask him why once again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record. Because, indeed, _why_ would the doctor find any satisfaction at all in visiting Will, and what could he possibly find interesting about him…?

“I’ll let you eat now. I’ll come by next week, Will,” the doctor said then. “And I know it’s dreadful, but… try and eat some of the hospital food, please. I wouldn’t want you to lose weight.”

Will smiled a little and just nodded, and then Hannibal put his hand on Will’s shoulder. It was a fleeting moment, but his fingers lingered there, and even through the gown, Will felt the man’s fingertips sinking gently into his skin for a fraction of a second. The touch was gone too quickly, and the doctor was out of the room before he could force himself to raise his gaze. Will had to remind himself to loosen his grip on the fork.

****

The rest of the week went by, as Hannibal had told him, without any of his visits. Will started to feel much better, and despite the advice to rest more, given by the doctor who took over Hannibal’s visits, his walks became easier and longer each day. It felt like his body was finally beginning to properly heal.

Finally, the following week Hannibal came to his room again and Will sat up in the bed, smiling a little at seeing him for the first time in days.

“Good morning, Will,” the doctor greeted him as he circled the bed. “Did you miss me?”

“Morning, Dr. Lecter,” Will said, chuckling a little. “I actually did. The other doctor was nice, but I guess I don’t like changes,” he said, and Will pursed his lips. _Don’t like changes_ …? “Uhmm… I hope your trip went well?”

“Just a few boring lectures from people who are supposed to be experts on their fields but wouldn’t be able to say anything interesting even if their lives depended on it, I’m afraid,” Hannibal said, and he gave him half a smile. “The truth is, I would’ve much rather stayed here doing my job. Which reminds me…”

He searched for something in one of the big pockets of his white coat, and when he took something out, Will held out his palm instinctively. It was an ugly keychain of a pink salmon with ‘ _Yellowstone National Park_ ’ in pink letters both above and below the fish. Will let out a loud laugh before he could stop himself, but when he looked at Hannibal, he seemed amused too.

“It made me think of you.”

“This is… Interesting?” he said, rotating the keychain in case it would improve under a different angle. It did not.

“It’s probably the most ugly keychain I’ve ever encountered, but it was the only one with a fish on it,” he said, and then he bent over the bed, moving closer to him, enough for the doctor’s scent being almost intoxicating for a moment. “Don’t worry, I only bought it as a joke, I won’t make you use it.”

Will chuckled again, but he gripped the keychain tight in case Hannibal was thinking about taking it from him. It might be truly ugly, but he felt his heart fluttering inside his chest at the idea that Hannibal – _Dr. Lecter_ – had thought about him while he was on a business trip. When Hannibal moved back, Will used that moment to take a long breath in.

“Now Will, how have you been?” Hannibal asked him, getting back to his doctor mode. “Any pains?”

“No, I’ve been… pretty good, actually. I haven’t felt any pain at all for two days.”

“That’s a really good sign.”

Hannibal did something to the IV beside the bed, and Will couldn’t help but notice then a small faded cut on his neck, right above the shirt collar, almost imperceptible. _Probably from shaving_ , he thought. He shifted his eyes away from the man’s neck when the doctor looked back at him.

“In that case, I have very good news. I’m sending you home tomorrow.”

Will felt like a weight had been suddenly lifted from him, and sighed.

“Oh god, finally.”

The doctor grinned and nodded.

“I knew you would be glad. You’ll have to stay tonight, just in case there are any complications, and you can leave tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, sure. Thank you, Dr. Lecter.”

“Of course,” Hannibal said, nodding and smiling. “I’m afraid I’m in a hurry, but I’ll try to come by tomorrow myself. I wouldn’t want to miss the discharge of one of my favorite patients,” he said, and he gave him a smirk that made Will shift his eyes and blush a little. “But in case I can’t make it, I’ll give the nurses all the details for your release.”

Will nodded, and when the doctor walked around his bed to go to the door, he sat up in the bed.

“Wait!”

Hannibal stopped with a hand on the doorknob and turned to face him. Will swallowed, because he didn’t know what to say to him, but he wanted to say _something_.

“Yes, Will?” Hannibal said when he didn’t say anything.

“Your plastic container,” Will said, pointing at the table, where he had kept the container beside the wilting flowers since the doctor had brought him the food.

“Oh, that’s right, thank you for reminding me, Will.”

“Also, uhm… I just- Thanks a lot, really. For… everything. Even for this _beautiful_ keychain.”

Hannibal chuckled a little at his joke and nodded once again.

“It’s been my pleasure, Will,” he said, and Will nodded, unable to say anything else. “I’ll let you rest now.”

When he left the room, Will cursed under his breath. How could he be _such_ an idiot…?

****

The next morning, he was awake even before the hospital’s morning shift had arrived, and he started asking _when_ could he leave to every single nurse that entered his room or walked by the open door. Finally, they informed him that he would be discharged just before noon. He huffed because that meant he had to wait several more hours, but he was also glad the moment to leave that place and go home was so close.

When the hour finally came, he was already dressed and ready when a nurse entered his room to inform him that he could go. In that moment, he realized with a pang that he had been waiting for Hannibal to drop by as he had said he might do, so he felt both relieved and disappointed. And also a little angry at himself for expecting that, when the doctor had clearly better things to do than to say goodbye to a patient.

They gave him a paper with all the instructions and medicines he was going to have to take for a while, and he finally went out, grunting a little and touching the wound through his shirt when he tried to walk too fast.

And then, he was finally outside. He inhaled deep and exhaled, relieved to be finally free… and then he looked around and realized something: he obviously didn’t have his car, and he hadn’t called Beverly to ask her to take him home. Will sighed and took his cellphone out of his pocket, shaking his head a little for forgetting something like that.

“Will. I was afraid I had completely missed you.”

Will looked up from the screen of his phone and stared into Hannibal’s face… and down at his clothes. Somehow, seeing him outside of the hospital and dressed in a suit without his white coat, shocked him almost as much as if there were a lion eating salad in front of him.

“Sorry?” he said after a couple of seconds. Hannibal gave him a half smile as he approached him, changing a pair of leather gloves from one hand to the other.

“I’m sorry I didn’t drop by your room earlier. I wanted to be present for your discharge, but it’s been a busy morning,” Hannibal said then, and Will shook his head.

“Please, don’t worry, I completely understand.”

Despite his words, Will felt a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He _really_ had meant to visit him that morning, as he had told him.

“Still, I wanted to be there for your discharge,” he said, and they fell silent for a few seconds, Will with his phone in a hand and the bag with his things in the other, and Hannibal watching him. Finally, he smiled again. “Are you waiting for someone, Will?”

Will frowned at that question, but he shook his head.

“I... No, I’m not.”

“In that case, do you need a ride home? I’m finished for the morning.”

“What?”

Hannibal’s smile grew wider and Will blushed violently, because he knew he was starting to sound as if the injury wasn’t in his stomach, but in his head.

“Do you need a ride home, Will?”

“I- Oh, no! No, I mean… I’ll call a cab, but… thanks?” Will said, unsure if the doctor was offering to give him a ride himself or if he was offering to call a cab.

“Come, I’ll drive you.”

Will pursed his lips, but shook his head again. “Eh… Thanks a lot, Dr. Lecter, but I couldn’t bother you like that.”

“Nonsense. If it was a bother, I wouldn’t have offered it.”

Will chuckled a little, not entirely sure he was understanding everything correctly.

“I… No, seriously, I don’t want to be a bother.”

“Will, I don’t mind.”

“I live _really_ far away.”

“I still don’t mind…”

Hannibal raised his eyebrows and Will opened his mouth, but he had run out of things to say.

“Uhmm… Are you sure?” he asked, and Hannibal chuckled.

“Please, come, my car is this way. Do you need help with that?” Hannibal asked, pointing at the bag that Beverly had brought him a few days back with a change of clothes.

Will suddenly remembered what he had in the bag, and he shook his head quickly. Inside, he had kept one of the flowers from the bouquet. The one he was still not even sure if Hannibal had sent…

They walked to the staff parking lot, and Will raised his eyebrows when Hannibal led him to a dark Bentley, but he just thanked him when the doctor held the passenger door open for him. In the brief moment that it took Hannibal to go from his door to the driver’s seat, Will wondered how the hell he had ended up there, in his doctor’s car, about to be taken home by him. But he just smiled a little and leaned backwards, relaxing against the soft leather.

“You really didn’t have to do this, you know? I mean, you can drop me anywhere and I’ll call a cab, really…” Will said once the other turned the car on.

Hannibal merely smiled again, putting on his gloves. “I’m not going to drop you off in the middle of the street. What kind of doctor would I be, then?”

Will knew he was joking, but he shook his head.

“I’m sure you have things to do, places to be… A wife, or a girlfriend to be with…?” Will said, trying not to sound too obvious.

“I don’t have anywhere to be right now, Will,” he replied, not exactly answering his question.

“So… what, you drive all your patients home?” Will asked after a couple of seconds, and he only realized that he had sounded more flirtatious than he had meant to after he had said it, but Hannibal’s smile remained unaltered while he drove through the streets of Baltimore.

“Not all of them, no. Just the ones I find at the hospital’s entrance in need of a ride, or the ones who have already tasted one of my meals.”

Will chuckled a little, but he gripped his bag tightly, a warm feeling coiling inside his belly.

“I could’ve just called a cab,” he repeated.

“Of course, but I’m sure a cab driver wouldn’t be as good company, don’t you think?”

Will just smiled, thinking that _of course_ it wouldn’t be as good company, and then he looked at the buildings they were passing by.

“So, you said you lived far away, but where to, exactly?”

Will raised an eyebrow, and tilted his head to him.

“Are you going to pretend you didn’t see it in my file?”

“I didn’t want to sound like a stalker,” Hannibal joked, glancing at him for a second with a smirk on his lips, and making Will’s heart skip a beat.

“Wolf Trap. I’ll give you directions once we’re closer.”

Hannibal nodded, but then he changed the hand at the wheel, and Will let his eyes linger for a moment on the shape of Hannibal’s body against the leather seat, on the contrast between the mocha colored leather and the blue of his suit, on the gloves, one hand on the wheel and the other settled over the gearshift, even though the car was an automatic. Will had to force himself to look away through the window.

“Do you have anything to eat at home, Will?”

That question made Will look back at him turning his head almost too quickly. He remembered the casserole Hannibal had brought him a week before, and he opened and closed his mouth before actually being able to say anything.

“I… Yes,” he lied.

The truth was, he probably didn’t have anything edible in his house apart from a few cans of soup that he hoped weren’t expired. He wondered if Hannibal had meant to invite him to lunch, and he felt two things: a little afraid and skeptical at the possibility that he actually had, and _very_ angry at himself at the possibility that he had just turned the invitation down. But Hannibal probably hadn’t meant to invite _him_ to lunch, he probably was just being polite. Possibly for the same reason he was driving him home.

Hannibal nodded silently, and Will just swallowed and looked down at his hands with a million questions racing through his mind… But of course, he didn’t ask any of them.

“Do you mind if I put on some music?” Hannibal asked him, reaching for the dashboard.

“Of course not,” Will snorted. “How rude would I be if I told you what to do in your own car after you’re taking me to my house…?”

“Not rude at all, since I sincerely asked you.”

Will smiled and Hannibal turned the radio on. For some reason, when the classical music filled the car, it didn’t surprise him at all, that genre suiting Hannibal perfectly.

They spent the rest of the journey in silence, Will looking outside the window while he heard only the low and soothing music and the shifts of the fabric whenever Hannibal moved turning the wheel or braking. Will realized then that he felt more comfortable in that car and with that man than he had felt in a long time, and not only because he had spent the last few weeks in a hospital. He actually couldn’t remember the last time he had been so at ease with anyone or anywhere apart from his own house.

When he felt something press the back of his hand, he opened his eyes and sat up a little, turning in his seat. And then, he felt two things: a warm feeling at seeing Hannibal’s fingers on top of his hand, and embarrassment for having fallen asleep in his car, even if only for a short time.

“I was just making sure you were all right,” Hannibal said, moving his hand away and smiling a little, probably at Will’s confused expression.

Will ran a hand over his face and realized they were parked in front of his house, and he frowned.

“Sorry, I didn’t sleep much last night, I was too nervous about being discharged,” he confessed, and then he groaned while understanding of the situation fully seeped in. “God, I am the worst copilot you’ve ever had, aren’t I?”

“Not at all. It’s not easy to find people that don’t have the need to fill every silence with empty words.”

Will frowned but smiled, too, since he was almost sure that was a compliment. And then, he became aware of something else.

“You didn’t have any problem finding my house…?” he asked, even though it was evident, and Hannibal chuckled a little.

“Well, I didn’t want to seem like a stalker, but you looked like you needed the sleep more,” Hannibal said, shrugging a little.

Will nodded, not exactly sure how to face the idea that Hannibal had obviously not only read his address in his file, but also remembered it. He thought for a second that maybe that should’ve felt strange, but the truth was, he only felt flattered.

They went out of the car and Will walked to the house he had bought barely a year before. The barks of the dogs made him smile.

“You have dogs,” Hannibal said, although his voice didn’t reflect surprise.

“Yes, two strays. Although I think I’ll end up having many more…”

Will opened the door and crouched while the two dogs jumped happily around them, greeting their owner and the newcomer. Hannibal patted their heads with a little smile, and then pocketed his hands in his coat.

“Come on, guys, stop,” Will said, pushing them away from Hannibal, since he didn’t want him to give the doctor a coat full of fur as a thank-you for the ride.

Will let them go outside, and they began to run around the house. They had had Beverly watching over them the days he had been in the hospital, but they were obviously happy to have Will there again. When he finally stood up, he pocketed his own hands and sighed, unsure of what to do.

“I… Thanks a lot for the ride, Dr. Lecter. I don’t even know what to say.”

“It’s nothing. And please, you may call me Hannibal,” he said, tilting his head a little with half a smile on his lips. “You’ve eaten my food and been in my car, I think it’s fair for us to be on a first-name basis.”

Will had to look down for a moment, but he smiled and nodded.

“Of course… Hannibal,” he said, feeling every consonant in his tongue. “Thank you, really.”

“You’re very welcome,” Hannibal said, and then he looked at the watch on his wrist. “ _If_ you don’t need anything else…?”

“Oh, no!” Will said immediately. “Please, you’ve done more than enough.”

“All right, then I’ll be going… Just one last thing.”

Hannibal took his hand out of his pockets and took one of his gloves off before searching for something inside of his coat. He took a card and a pen out, and he wrote something on the back. When he finished, he pocketed the pen again and held the card out for him.

“Anything you may want or need, that’s my personal number.”

Will took it, and it felt so smooth against his fingers, that he had to rub it the second he had it in his hand. It was a business card with the number Will guessed would be for his office on the front, and on the back, the number Hannibal had written just then in neat, perfectly aligned numbers.

Will nodded, not sure of what else to say or if there was anything at all he could say, so he just thanked him again.

“I’ll be going, then. And Will, look after yourself in your recovery, all right?”

He nodded again and Hannibal took a few steps towards his car, and then Will finally reacted and stepped down the few stairs of the porch.

“Hannibal, we will… see each other? In the check-ups, I mean.”

The doctor turned around once he was already beside his car, and when he furrowed his brow, Will felt his stomach sink.

“Didn’t the nurses tell you?” Hannibal asked, and Will shook his head. “I won’t be doing your check-ups. I transferred you to another doctor, a colleague. I believe you have her the name in the papers I left for you.”

“Oh…” Will said, and then he tried to smile, but it probably looked like a grimace. “Sure, yeah, I mean. I understand.”

Hannibal looked at him for a couple of seconds, and then he gave him another warm smile while he opened the car’s door.

“We’ll talk, Will.”

Hannibal finally got into his car and disappeared down the road after waving at him. Will looked at the card between his fingers, and swallowed hard. Once again, he wondered if the man had been being nice to him out of pity… The casserole, the conversations, the ride home, giving him his personal number…

Will pocketed the card and called the dogs into the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bonus update this week to start up this story! :) (There will still be an update on Friday/Saturday as I said in the first chapter ^^)
> 
> Meduszoa drew [this amazing fanart](http://meduszoa.tumblr.com/post/140640650753/will-wanted-to-turn-his-help-down-tell-him-he) of the first chapter of the story, and I CAN'T even. Thank you so much, gaah!!!
> 
> Also, thank you so much to all of you left kudos and comments in this story, they mean SO much to me!!


	3. Chapter 3

Will spent the following days in his house, cradled in a mess of sheets and lying on the couch between two dogs while he tried to recover his strength. He started taking walks with the dogs that lasted longer every day, as he had done in the hospital, and he even was able to fix a motorboat he had been working on before the hospital little by little.

He tried not to think about Hannibal, about everything that had happened, and about his card, but he had kept it on top of the dresser along with the fish keychain and the dried flower, so every time he went by his room they served as a reminder that everything had truly happened. But then, a few days after returning home, his phone buzzed. Will was lying down on the couch with Chloe curled up on top of his feet, her nose buried under her furry tail and her eyes fluttering, a sign that she was completely asleep and dreaming; exactly as he was supposed to be in that moment, since it was already nighttime. The phone, of course, was on the farthest part of the coffee table in front of the couch, out of his reach. Will looked at the dog and back at the phone. He put the book he had been reading upside down on the coffee table, and then he rested his weight onto his elbow and stretched his hand out to try to take the phone. His fingertips were _almost_ brushing the damn phone when it buzzed again, and Will cursed under his breath. He took the book again and used it to drag the phone closer to him and, _finally_ , he grabbed it.

When he looked at the screen, his heart skipped a beat and he sat up on the couch with a jolt. Chloe opened her eyes and looked at him with a sleepy face, so Will touched her head as an apology.

“Sorry, Chloe…”

He freed his feet from under the dog, and she dropped her head on the couch again while Will sat with his back against the cushions to read the text again, trying to discern if he was reading correctly.

**Hannibal.**

_Hello, Will._

_Just checking that everything’s fine. Is the wound all right? Have you felt any pain at all?_

The day after Hannibal had driven him to his house, Will had sent him a brief text to let the other man know his phone number, but the doctor hadn’t replied, and Will hadn’t really expected him to do so. That’s why he had to read it three times before taking the phone with both hands and opening the actual texts, staring at the keyboard. And then, he wondered what the hell was he supposed to tell him, how was he supposed to talk to him in a text. Did Hannibal expect him to use smiley faces? Was he supposed to be formal, as if he was writing an important email? After a couple of minutes of staring at the screen, he cleared his throat as if he was going to start speaking out loud, and then he typed.

**Will.**

_I’m fine, thanks a lot for asking. The wound is okay, I’m getting attached to the scar, I think it’s grown on me._

_PS. I thought you weren’t my doctor anymore!_

Will pressed send, and then he grimaced immediately. He read his own text again, and again, and he groaned at the joke, and the last part. What the hell was he–

The phone buzzed again.

**Hannibal.**

_Can’t a concerned doctor watch over a former patient? I am glad to hear you’re doing fine, and I hope your recovery is going well. Are you eating enough now that the hideous hospital food is out of the equation? Are you taking short walks?_

_PS. If you need anything, let me know, Will. I mean it._

**Will.**

_Well, my food is nothing like that casserole you brought me, but yes, I’m eating properly, I’m resting, I’m talking walks… Following each and every of my former doctor’s orders._

**Hannibal.**

_I promise, that casserole was the simplest thing I could think of in the moment. If you ever want to try something else, that could easily be arranged._

Will stared at the screen and bit his lower lip. He had been joking, but what about Hannibal? Was _he_ joking? Was that flirting? No, not flirting, it couldn’t be flirting… Was he just being nice again?

**Will.**

_For some reason, I have no problem in believing you. Thanks for your concern, Hannibal. I appreciate it._

**Hannibal.**

_You’re very welcome. Good night, Will. Sleep well._

**Will.**

_Good night, Hannibal._

Will stared at the screen for another ten minutes, but obviously it didn’t buzz again. He noticed he had a smile on his lips, and he ran a hand over his face and dropped the phone beside him, and his head on the headrest.

When the day of his first check-up with Dr. Allen came, a week after being discharged from the hospital, the woman told him he could already return to work, since the wound had been healing well. Will went to speak to the Police Chief, and since it wouldn’t have looked too good for the police department to retire a healed man who had been shot on duty, they asked him to return to work, at least for a few weeks until they – or rather, until _he_ \- could decide on his new position. Will knew it would be bullshit work, merely pretending like he was doing something while they probably gave him a few sites to patrol, but the alternative was to stay at home and do nothing, so he accepted. When he returned to work, he was glad to have something to do, and to have Beverly back as his partner, at least until the pretense was over.

That first day after returning to work, Will was in his bedroom getting changed into more comfortable clothes when he turned and saw the card, the ugly keychain and dried flower on the dresser, and he bit his lip. He sat on top of the mattress and fished his phone out of the jeans he had worn. He rolled the phone in his hands, thinking about texting Hannibal something – _anything_ – but threw it on the bed, shaking his head and discarding the idea. He stood up and went towards the door, but then he went back and took the phone again. He quickly typed a message before he could change his mind again.

**Will.**

_Good afternoon, Hannibal. I went to the first check-up with Dr. Allen, I just wanted to let you know that she says I’m doing fine._

The second he hit send, an almost heady wave of heat came over him, and not in a pleasant way. _What_ was he doing…?

“Oh god…” he groaned.

He threw the phone back onto the bed and stared at it. Five minutes after waiting and receiving no answer, he started getting pretty nervous. He tried to distract himself by making dinner, and ended up eating just a little, because the knot in his stomach made him lose all the appetite he could’ve had.

It was only two hours after he had sent the message, when he was trying to watch TV lying down on the couch, when the phone finally buzzed and he jumped on his seat. He grabbed it so quickly he almost dropped it, and he stared at the screen, relief finally loosening his muscles.

**Hannibal.**

_Good evening, Will. I apologize for the delay in my answer, I was in a surgery. I’m very glad you’re doing fine on your recovery. I also hope Dr. Allen is treating you well? She is a good doctor, but if you’re not pleased with her for any reason, I could fix it easily by referring you to a different doctor._

Will huffed out a laugh, partly because he was still tense, and partly because Hannibal’s concern made his heart start beating too fast. He waited for a few minutes, reading the text again a few times, so as to not seem too eager to answer.

**Will.**

_The doctor is just fine. Probably would’ve preferred to see a friendlier face, but she was very kind._

The phone buzzed again even before he could lock the screen, and his heart skipped a beat.

**Hannibal.**

_I’m sorry about that, too. Maybe soon we could fix that, as well._

Will squinted to read the screen, and he blinked. Was Hannibal actually saying what he was saying…? Was he hinting that he wanted to see him in person again? But his thoughts were interrupted once again by another new message.

**Hannibal.**

_As always, I’d love to keep talking to you, Will, but I’m afraid I need to go to sleep now. It’s been a long day, and tomorrow seems like it will be even longer. Good night, Will. Get some rest._

**Will.**

_Good night, Hannibal. You too._

Will bit the pad of his thumb after sending that last message, and he read Hannibal’s previous text again. He looked at it until he had to blink back a few tears for having stared at the screen for so long, and he decided it was time to go to sleep. After that, he didn’t dare to text Hannibal again, and he figured the man was too busy to do so, since he didn’t do it either.

****

A week later, on the day of his second check-up, he walked through the hospital’s hallways scanning the faces of everyone he passed by, his heartbeats quickening every time he saw someone with a white coat. He shook his head at himself when he reached Dr. Allen’s office, and then he knocked and went inside. When the check-up finished, Will went out of the office looking down at the paper the doctor had given him, and he almost collided with someone.

“Oh, I’m so sorry- Hannibal? Hi!” Will said, smiling nervously, taking a step back to give him a little space.

“Will… It’s so good to see you. You’re here for your check-up, aren’t you?” Hannibal asked, looking from the office’s door to him. “How are you doing?”

“Dr. Allen says I’m doing good. In fact, she said I won’t be needing any more check-ups,” he said, waving the paper a little and then pocketing it.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Hannibal said, and then his eyes shifted to Will’s chest, and he felt his heart pounding in his ears. “I thought they were going to retire you, _officer_.”

Will followed his gaze and looked down, and he remembered he was wearing his uniform, since he had come straight from the station.

“Oh! Yes, they are. I mean, they will. It doesn’t look too good if they pull out an officer right after recovering from being shot on duty so... They asked me to work in the field a little longer.”

Hannibal nodded, and Will once again wondered why he was telling him all that. The man probably wasn’t even interested and had just asked out of politeness.

In that moment, a nurse appeared behind Hannibal.

“Dr. Lecter, here are the files you asked for,” the nurse said.

“Thank you, Nina.”

The nurse gave Will a curious look, realizing for the first time that he was there, so he gave her a weird smile. She smiled a little and went away quickly.

“I’m afraid I have to go Will, a patient is waiting for me.”

“Of course, I don’t want to keep you,” Will said, and then he frowned. “I mean, keep you away from… your… patients.”

“I will talk to you later, Will,” Hannibal said, grinning, and then he nodded and took a step backwards.

In that moment, Will thought, _what if_. What if he wanted to keep talking to Hannibal, and not just for him to check on how his recovery was going, what if he wanted to talk to him outside of the hospital, what if Will wanted to know _what_ Hannibal was like outside of the hospital. What if Hannibal hadn’t only been being nice, what if, what if, _what if_. And Will didn’t want to keep asking himself all of that, he didn’t want to go home and keep wondering, so he took a step towards him.

“Wait, Hannibal, I… Okay, the truth is, I was wondering, would you- Uhm. Would you like to have dinner tonight? With me, I mean.”

Will said it so quickly he doubted for a moment that Hannibal had understood him, but the change in his expression told Will he had. And he regretted saying anything right after saying it.

“Oh, I… I would love to, Will, but I can’t.”

“Uhm… Of course,” Will said, nodding and feeling like an idiot. He wished he could disappear in that exact moment.

“The thing is-“

“No, really, I understand. You don’t have to say anything else… Sorry,” he said, huffing out a nervous laugh. “I think I’m going to go now.”

Will tried to go around him to head towards the exit, but then Hannibal wrapped his hand around his wrist, making him turn around.

“Will, if you allow me to explain… I have a shift in the ER tonight.”

“You have…? Oh.”

He finally understood what he meant. Hannibal wasn’t saying no, he was just saying no to _that_ night.

“I would _very_ much like to have dinner with you. Perhaps tomorrow?”

“That’s… yeah, tomorrow’s perfect,” Will said, laughing a little and feeling his heart going too fast.

“Can I choose the place, or did you have something already in mind?”

“No, the truth is… I hadn’t thought about anything beyond this moment.”

Hannibal grinned, and he nodded.

“I’ll choose the place, then. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“I appreciate it, but I have to work, so I’ll just go from the station. You can send me the address, though,” Will said, and Hannibal nodded.

“Very well. I’ll text you the address once I’ve made the reservation.”

Will nodded, and they stayed still in the hallway, looking at each other for a moment. And then, Will realized two things: how close they were, and that Hannibal hadn’t let his wrist go. He looked down to the place where Hannibal’s fingers curled loosely around his skin, and hoped his face wasn’t as red as it was hot in that moment. Hannibal finally set him free, his fingertips slowly brushing his skin as they slid away.

“I _really_ need to go now, I wasn’t lying about the patient. But I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Will.”

“Me too… But yeah, you’re right. Go, please.”

Will waved him goodbye awkwardly, and then he leaned against the wall and watched him until he disappeared around the corner.

While he walked out of the hospital, he realized he had been smiling the entire time, not entirely believing what had just happened…

He had a date with Hannibal Lecter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't entirely sure of how to write the texts, but in the end I tried to make them as if they were a real text (the ones Will sends in the right and Hannibal's in the left). If they're too confusing or something, let me know and I'll try to change them somehow :)
> 
> This chapter is a little shorter than the rest, but you've had a bonus chapter this week, so I hope it's ok! Also, next week's episode... heheh ;)


	4. Chapter 4

The following day, Will tried on all three suits he owned, and he heaved a groan, throwing the third pair of slacks onto the bed. Harry looked at him from his dog bed and tilted his head, making his big, floppy ears swing.

“Yeah, I know…” Will said, snorting.

The clothes he usually wore apart from the uniform weren’t exactly fit for a date, and much less a date with a man like Hannibal Lecter, with the air of confidence that surrounded him, his nice suits and his Bentley. And the suits Will owned were pretty old and awful, but they were all he had.

Will looked once again at the possible combinations, and he looked at his watch, realizing he was already late for work. And even though he wouldn’t be doing that job in a few weeks, he still wasn’t planning on being late. So he chose the least horrible suit and put it in his bag as carefully folded as he could, and then left for work after finishing his coffee in two big gulps.

When he returned to the station after spending the day patrolling a residential area with Beverly and pretending he was actually doing something, he went a little too quickly to his locker and checked his phone. Hannibal had texted him the location and name of the restaurant. The name didn’t ring any bell, but he still beamed without being conscious of it, reading the words again. He took a shower and changed into his suit. He was trying to comb his stubborn hair when Beverly entered the room and looked at him with a smirk.

“Look who’s all dressed up. Got a date, Will?”

“I… maybe?”

She stared at his reflection in the mirror, and he smiled and looked down. She hadn’t actually expected him to say yes.

“Shut up,” Will said when she opened her mouth.

“I haven’t even said anything!”

“But you’re going to… And I’m leaving.”

Beverly put her index finger and thumb on the corner of her mouth and gestured as if she was zipping her mouth and throwing the key away. Will rolled his eyes and left.

It took him two attempts at driving through the street to locate the restaurant, and once he finally did, he felt immediately nervous. When he arrived, a valet took his car, and Will slouched a little when he was left in front of the building, looking at the incredibly expensive-looking place. He was _definitely_ not appropriately dressed for this restaurant.

“Will.”

He turned to see Hannibal approaching him and another valet taking his Bentley. Will’s mouth opened unintentionally at the sight of the doctor impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit under his overcoat, which probably cost more than his car. He already knew how incredibly good-looking Hannibal was, but he was dressed in an even more formal suit than the ones Will had seen him wearing, and Will suddenly couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

“I’m sorry about the delay.”

“No, I… I just arrived.”

“Perfect, then. Shall we?” Hannibal asked, extending his arm to the door.

Will nodded and swallowed the knot in his throat before going in.

“Ah, Doctor Lecter!” a man with a thick accent said when they went in, and then he turned to Will and nodded, greeting him, “Very good to see you here. You had a reservation for two, yes?”

“That’s right, Matheo.”

“Follow me, gentlemen.”  


He guided them through an ample and beautiful room filled with tables and illuminated with chandeliers dangling from the high ceiling. But the man walked by that room and led them into another smaller room with fewer tables. Will looked down and bit the inside of his lip when he saw how intimate that room looked; less lighting, candles on the tables, soft piano music filling the air…

“Monsieur,” the waiter said to Will while they were taking their coats off, moving one of the chairs away so he would sit.

They gave their coats to another silent waiter before sitting, and Hannibal thanked the headwaiter when he gave them the menu. Will hid behind it for a moment, fearing that if he looked at Hannibal, he would see in his face how ridiculous and out of place he was in a place like that.

“Did you have any problem finding the place?” Hannibal asked when the waiter finally left them alone. Will had to move the menu down to look at him, and clear his throat to be able to speak.

“I- No. Well, not after the fourth time I went by the street,” Will half-joked, and Hannibal smiled a little.

“I apologize if my directions weren’t proper.”

“No! Nothing wrong with that, it’s just… I wasn’t expecting… _this_.”

Hannibal looked around them, and Will couldn’t help but stare at the way his skin tensed around his jaw when he looked up.

“I’m definitely underdressed for a place like this,” Will said in a low voice, and Hannibal locked his gaze on him again.

“Nonsense. You look _very_ good, Will.”

“Be careful, doctor, there’s a fine line between being polite and lying.”

“I’m not doing either of them,” he said.

Will held his gaze for a few seconds. And then, he laughed.

“Did I say something funny?”

Will tried not to, but he laughed again while he felt himself blushing a little, so he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… I didn’t think you… You know.”

“I assure you, Will, I do not know,” he said, tilting his head, but Will saw that he was amused by the situation.

“Well. I didn’t think you… could be the least bit interested in me.”

He had to repress another laugh at his own words, because they sounded ridiculous. Hannibal’s smile widened in his lips.

“And here I thought that I was being shameless,” Hannibal said, and Will opened his eyes wide.

“What? No, you weren’t!”

“Were my long visits not a clue of my interest for you?”

“Your visits weren’t _that_ long…”

“Will.” Hannibal said, leaning forwards and resting his elbows on the table, getting closer with the movement. “I am a surgeon, my visits are a simple check-up on the patient, I usually don’t stay to talk with my patients, even if it’s just for a few minutes every day.”

“Really?” Will asked, furrowing his brow.

“Believe me, the nurses started talking after the fourth day I stayed more than a couple of minutes in your room.”

Will pursed his lips, finding that idea incredibly funny.

“But then why did you refer me to another doctor?”

“I referred you so you weren’t my patient anymore,” Hannibal said in a calm tone, and he leaned backwards on his chair again. “It’s not that it’s forbidden to go out with a patient, but it’s not considered the most acceptable thing.”

“Oh…”

“I brought you a meal to the hospital, I gave you my personal number… Will, I even drove you home. To Wolf Trap.”

“I thought you were doing all of that out of pity,” he confessed, a little embarrassed.

“Believe me, I would never do anything like that out of pity. And besides, there’s no reason I would feel pity for you.”

Will felt his heart hammering inside his chest, and the voice of a waiter made him jump a little in his chair, shifting his eyes to his menu. Hannibal asked Will if he wanted wine and he just nodded, so the waiter went away, only to return a few seconds later with the bottle Hannibal had asked for. Hannibal nodded when he showed it to him, and after tasting it and approving of it, the waiter served them both and left the bottle.

“I thought _you_ weren’t interested in me, Will,” Hannibal said then, resuming the conversation, and Will frowned. “I tried to make it very clear, and I even invited you to lunch and you rejected me.”

Will remembered that _detail_ , and he smiled a little.

“Yeah… Now that I think about it maybe I sent a few mixed signals. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m just glad we’re here now.”

Hannibal raised his glass, and Will did the same. They both took a sip from their respective glasses, and Will felt his cheeks warming up when he left it on the table, but not because of the drink.

“I still feel _so_ out of place,” he said, and Hannibal chuckled a little.

“You are not, I assure you. But perhaps my choice for a first date was a little extravagant.” Will felt his stomach flipping at the mention of the _first_ date, but Hannibal then looked down for a second. “Maybe I was trying to impress you.”

“Maybe you did…”

Hannibal smiled broadly, and then the waiter appeared again. They ordered the food, Will following Hannibal’s recommendation to choose the roasted duck.

“So… do you come here a lot? I mean, they seem to know you, and you certainly know the food,” Will asked, genuinely interested, but also wondering if he had a lot of dates and brought them here, too.

“Not a lot, but on the few occasions I eat out, this is one of my favorite places. But usually I make all my meals. I wasn’t lying when I said that casserole was the poorest of my dishes.”

Will laughed a little, leaning back in his chair. “I envy you. I can cook some things, of course, but they’re _definitely_ nothing like yours if they’re as good as that casserole.”

“Then perhaps I should teach you one day.”

Will took a sip from his wine so as to have anything to do with his mouth that wasn’t talking. Hannibal smiled at his lack of words.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Will asked once he set the glass back on the table.

“What are we here for?” Hannibal said, and Will smiled again.

“Where are you from? I mean, I noticed the accent, something Eastern European, maybe? But it’s also… I don’t know. Something about you. You’re not like anyone I’ve ever met.”

“Is that a compliment?” Hannibal asked.

“It definitely is.”

Hannibal observed him for a moment with an enigmatic smile, and then he licked his lips before answering.

“I’m from Lithuania, Europe. Although I left when I was merely a child.”

“With your family?”

“No, my family actually died. That’s why I left.”

“Oh, god, I’m… I’m so sorry.”

Hannibal smiled and shook his head a little.

“Thank you. But it’s all right, it happened a long time ago,” he said, and then he took a sip from his glass before continuing to speak. “What about you? Did I perhaps detect a slight southern accent while you were under the influence of the anesthesia…?”

“Yes, I was born in Louisiana, but I moved a lot because of my father’s job; he used to work fixing boats. When he died, I went to the police academy, and… Well, there’s not much else,” he said, and Hannibal smiled broadly.

“May I ask you something about work, Will?”

“Of course. But if you’re going to ask me if you can try the gun, I’m afraid it’s against the rules,” he joked, and Hannibal grinned, but shook his head.

“No, I wanted to know… When they retire you, what will you do?”

Will dragged his index finger along the stem of his glass, and then shrugged a little.

“I think I’ll probably teach criminology at Quantico,” Will said, and Hannibal leaned in a little, genuinely interested. “The truth is… I graduated in forensic science and tried to get into the FBI. But I… failed the test. They offered for me to teach a few classes while I worked as an _investigator_ , which is a nice way of saying that they would be using my skills however and whenever they wanted, without actually letting me be part of the FBI. I decided to go back to the police instead, although the offer is still on the table and they’ll probably insist on it now.”

Hannibal stayed silent, and Will wondered if he had talked too much. But then, Hannibal tilted his head.

“What exactly are your skills?” he asked.

Will tried to smile, but it turned into a grimace when he saw a flash behind his closed eyes, the images of himself choking a girl to death, stabbing a man thirty-seven times, waiting in the dark to cut the throat of another victim… He opened his eyes and blinked to erase the scenes of cases he had worked on, even cases from which he had only seen the pictures.

“Well, I… I can empathize with anybody and I have an active imagination. I usually say that I have a way of interpreting the evidence that makes me really good at catching the really bad people.”

Will swallowed and pursed his lips, thinking about how it would affect him to work as a profiler if he ever accepted the FBI’s offer. He had already felt it whenever they had had a complicated case, his mind slipping into the killer’s, his brain working exactly like the murderer’s would…

Then he felt something grazing the back of his hand, and he looked up to the center of the table. Hannibal’s fingers were on his hand, a simple and light touch, but Will felt better already when he looked at the man in the eyes.

“I hope that they can appreciate how truly special you are, then. Whether working as a professor or anything at all.”

Will gave him half a smile, and that time when the waiters entered the room, he saw them approaching and moved his hand away from under Hannibal’s, feeling his face redden.

****

When they left the restaurant, Will wasn’t walking in a straight line, although the responsible party wasn’t the wine, but rather the man walking beside him. Will _knew_ he hadn’t drunk that much, but still he felt intoxicated by Hannibal’s presence while they walked to the parking lot after they had asked the valet not to bring them their cars.

“I had a great time tonight,” Will said when they arrived to his car, which was the first one they found in the row of parked cars.

“I’m very glad to hear that, so did I.”

Will smiled broadly, and then he leaned back against the car and remembered something he had meant to ask him in the restaurant, but had been forgotten amidst all the other conversations they had had.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Whatever you want, Will,” Hannibal replied, taking a step towards him.

“The- Uhm… The bouquet of flowers in my room. The red ones. Did you send those…?”

Hannibal smiled broadly and nodded, which made Will’s heart skip a beat.

“I did.”

“Why?” Will asked, and his breath turned into fog around his mouth.

Hannibal tipped his head, but not because he seemed to be thinking his answer. Instead, he seemed pleased with the question.

“They reminded me of you. Beautiful, and yet from the first moment I saw something in your eyes. Something powerful, even… wild.”

Hannibal took another step towards him, and Will’s gaze fell upon his lips and back to his eyes. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and his breath growing heavier. He wasn’t exactly sure what to make of Hannibal’s words, but he was sure about how he was making him feel.

“You sure know how to seduce a man, Doctor…”

Before the man could say anything else, Will grabbed the lapels of Hannibal’s coat and pulled him towards him, and their lips finally met in a kiss. He tilted his head while Hannibal rested both hands against Will’s car at his sides. But Will apparently didn’t have the other’s self-control, because he pulled him even closer and opened his lips to him. When he felt Hannibal’s tongue brushing his, Will moaned against him. Hannibal’s hands touched him then, his fingers cupping his face and tangling in his hair, pressing their bodies even closer.

It had been a long time since Will had kissed anyone– since he had _wanted_ to kiss anyone, but in that moment he wondered how it was possible that the kiss felt _so_ good, Hannibal’s body so warm against his, making his stomach flip with every single touch…

When they pulled back to breathe, Will was thankful for the car behind him, since he wasn’t sure if he would’ve been able to stand up straight.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wished to do that…” Hannibal said, while he ran his thumb over his jaw.

“Shit…” Will said, in the absence of anything else to say, and Hannibal smiled widely, his breath warm against Will’s skin.

“Sir, do you need help getting your car out of the parking lot?”

Hannibal looked past Will at the valet that was talking to them, and Will saw his expression change, along with something in his eyes.

“No, thank you,” Hannibal told the valet without moving an inch from him, and after a moment, Will listened the steps of the other man going away.

When they were alone again, Hannibal looked back at him, and his eyes returned to normal. Will smiled, running his tongue across his own lips as he dragged his hands along Hannibal’s chest.

“I think they’re throwing us out…”

Hannibal smiled, tilted his head and kissed him again. The second kiss was much slower. Will licked and nibbled at Hannibal’s bottom lip leisurely, and he elicited a moan from the doctor, which sent new waves of pleasure down his stomach. Hannibal tasted like wine, like beef, like Will, and he felt himself getting light-headed when they broke the contact again and Hannibal pressed light but warm kisses against his neck.

Will groaned, because he wanted to do that for hours, but he knew they couldn’t.

“Would you like to come to my house?” Hannibal whispered against his skin.

“Oh god, I’d love to… But I can’t,” he said.

Hannibal finally pulled back to meet his eyes with a sly smile. “I apologize, I promised myself that I would be a gentleman, and here I am, trying to corrupt you so soon.”

“Hmm, so does kissing in the parking lot count as being a gentleman, or as corrupting me?” Will asked, playful, and the other grinned. “Seriously, I _would_ love to, but I have to get up really early tomorrow morning.”

“Very well. Another time, then,” he said, and his gaze went from Will’s eyes down to his mouth. Will had to bite his own lip not to lean in to kiss him again.

“Tomorrow…?” Will asked, smiling. “I promised myself I wouldn’t be too eager, but here we are…”

“I have a surgery scheduled for the afternoon, and another ER shift the night after tomorrow…” he said, one of his hands fondling the back of Will’s head. “But we could have lunch, if you’re free.”

“I think I’ll be. I’ll escape if I have to.”

Hannibal chuckled. Finally, they had to move away from the car. When Will stopped feeling Hannibal’s body against his, he felt as if he had stepped into the cold night air half-naked, and he wished he could’ve been able to stay in the spot between the man’s chest and his car for hours.

Hannibal took Will’s hand then and kissed the back of it. Will’s chest swelled with the gesture.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Will Graham.”  


Will went into his car and, for a second, he sat there in the driver’s seat, smiling like an idiot and gazing at the steering wheel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the date!! :)  
> I want to thank again all those who are leaving comments, kudos, etc. Thanks a lot! And I hope you're liking this story :D
> 
> I'm not sure if I'll be able to update next week, because I may be away. If that happens, I'll try to upload before or after Friday. If I really am unable to update, at least you know why!
> 
> ETA. I made a sort of edit for the fic, [here it is](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/post/141264415873/a-fortunate-wound-fanfic-will-graham-a-police)! :)  
> \--
> 
> You can go say hi to me in my only [Hannibal twitter](https://twitter.com/mizumohno) if you want (my other sites are listed in my profile ^^), where I basically talk 24/7 about Hannibal and post things sometimes, including talking about what I'm writing :)


	5. Chapter 5

The following day, they made them patrol the same area, and still, somehow, they managed to get into trouble. He and Beverly responded to an altercation call, and they went inside the little shop thinking the worst they could find would be someone angry yelling at the owner, but what they found was a 6’2” guy pointing at the owner with a baseball bat. He was yelling that the guy was ‘ _trying to con him’_ , but somehow when he saw Will and Beverly, he got even angrier.

“Sir please, calm down,” Beverly said, putting her hand right above her gun.

Will did the same, carefully unlocking his holster and raising his other hand to the guy in a gesture that was supposed to be soothing, but somehow it infuriated the man even more.

“I don’t fucking want to calm down!”

“Sir, put the bat down right now,” Beverly told him in a firm tone of voice.

And that was it. The guy raised the bat above his head, ready to use it on Beverly. Will’s instincts kicked in, and instead of drawing his weapon, he leaped on him, trying to tackle him before he could hit Beverly. In retrospect, that was probably one of the worst ideas he had ever had. The guy took the blow losing only his bat and, as soon as he recovered, he threw a punch at Will. Luckily, he missed his face because Will shifted to his side in the last second, but he took a punch in his shoulder that threw him to one of the shelves.

“On the ground, right now! I said right now!” he heard Beverly shout. “Put your hands on your head!”

Will sat up a little, surrounded by magazines from the shelf, and he saw that Beverly _had_ drawn her gun and restrained the guy, and she was putting her gun back in the holster and taking out the handcuffs.

“Will, you okay?” she asked without taking her eyes off of the guy.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry.”

Once she had handcuffed the suspect, she helped him get up, and she gave him half a smile.

“Damn, Will, thanks for taking the hit for me, but you didn’t have to go all Jackie Chan on him, you know?”

Will chuckled, getting up.

“I thought I was more like Bruce Willis,” he joked, and then he touched his shoulder above the uniform and grimaced.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just… It hurts a little, but I’m fine.”

And he _was_ fine, but when he went back to the station, the first thing he did was taking his phone from his locker and dialing Hannibal’s number for the first time.

“ _Dr. Lecter_.”

“Is that your new plan to seduce me, you’re going to remind me of your title over the phone?”

“ _Will_ ,” Hannibal said, that time with a completely different tone of voice. “ _I’m sorry, I was immersed in a patient’s file._ ”

“I imagined,” Will said, smiling already and leaning against the locker. He grimaced a little when he felt a mild pang of pain in his shoulder, so he stood straight.

“ _I wasn’t expecting you to call before noon. Is there any problem?_ ”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m calling…”

“ _And here I thought you only wanted to hear my voice_.”

“I did… I do,” Will said, chuckling. “The thing is, there was an altercation in a shop and the jerk attacked me, so-”

“ _Will, are you all right?_ ” Hannibal asked, not letting him finish.

He smiled, finding extremely endearing that Hannibal sounded worried about him.

“Yes, don’t worry, it was nothing. But now I have to fill out a ton of paperwork. I don’t think I’ll make it to lunch, sorry…”

“ _As long as you’re sure you’re okay…_ ”

“I am, really.”

Hannibal made a pause, and Will bit his lower lip, because he wanted to go see him, and he remembered that Hannibal wouldn’t be able to meet him that night.

“ _I really wanted to see you_ ,” Hannibal said then, voicing his exact thoughts, and Will sighed.

“God, so do I… Are you sure you can’t make it tonight?”

“ _I don’t think so, it’s a fairly complex surgery, it will probably take hours_.”

“Damn people who need complicated surgeries…” Will joked, and he could almost feel Hannibal’s smile at the other end of the line. “Can you meet for lunch tomorrow?”

“ _Yes, absolutely_.”

“Tomorrow it is, then.”

“ _Goodbye, Will_.”

“Goodbye, Hannibal.”

He hung up and put the phone back in his locker. When he went out of the dressing room, Beverly looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“What were you _doing_ in there, what’s with the smile?” she asked, teasing him.

Will rolled his eyes and then sat beside her, starting to fill the paperwork.

****

Will was in front of the hospital watching the ambulances coming and going when he felt a hand in his shoulder. He jumped a little and turned around, but smiled widely when he saw Hannibal, dressed in a suit much less formal than the one he had worn the night of their date, but still very elegant. Will had already guessed that it was the man’s usual way of dressing.

“Hey,” Will said.

“Hey yourself,” he said, and then his eyes shifted to Will’s chest, and he gave him half a smile. “I didn’t know you would come in uniform.”

Will looked down and he wrinkled his nose.

“Yeah, sorry. I was held up longer than I thought, so I had to choose between changing my clothes or coming.”

“I’m glad you chose coming, then.”

Hannibal leaned closer and pressed his lips against Will’s in a brief kiss, and he felt his heart trying to climb out of his throat. He had spent all his waking time since their date remembering the kisses they had shared, and not being entirely sure that it hadn’t been a dream. But they were in broad daylight now, and there were people in the street that could see them, and he was feeling Hannibal’s lips on his once again, and they were _real_. So when Hannibal pulled back, the only thing Will could do was let out a contented sigh.

They went to a much more normal restaurant, and even so, everyone kept staring at them because of Will’s uniform.

“This will be something I won’t miss,” Will said, shifting in his chair uncomfortably. “People see a police uniform and just change their behavior completely.”

“You’re an authority figure, it’s only natural they respect you, even if it’s subconsciously.”

Will looked at Hannibal over his menu and shook his head.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” Will started saying, but he hid his face behind the menu again. Hannibal leaned over the table and put a finger on top of the menu to lower it, and Will felt himself blushing when Hannibal stared at him, waiting for him to continue speaking. Will looked around them, and then he leaned a little closer. “I can’t… I don’t think what came to my mind about _how_ you said that is very appropriate for a public space.”

That made Hannibal raise his eyebrows, and this time he was the speechless one, so Will smiled, satisfied.

They ate lunch and talked about Hannibal’s work and about how he was already planning on switching from being an ER surgeon to being a psychiatrist, as he had mentioned in the hospital. Hannibal told him that he was already specialized but he had kept working in the ER since it was something he was used to do, and now it was just a matter of finding the right place to open his office, and notify the hospital so they could look for another surgeon with his capabilities.

When they finished eating, Will walked with Hannibal back to the hospital, and before he noticed, they were in front of a door that had his name on the nameplate.

“Is this your office?” Will asked, since he had only seen Hannibal in his room or in the hallways when he had been in the hospital.

“Yes. Do you want to come in?”

Will had to look down for a moment, not because of his words, but because of the tone in which he said it. He nodded before looking up at him, and Hannibal gave him a mischievous smile.

He unlocked the door with a key, and then Will went inside.

“I have to go back to the station, but I still have a little time…” Will said, looking around him and taking everything in; the books in the bookshelf, the couple of paintings of an old and beautiful building decorating the walls, the statue of a stag on a corner of the desk…

Will turned around to ask him about the paintings, and suddenly Hannibal was on him. Their bodies collided and Will stumbled backwards while he tried to return the kiss. When he hit the bookshelf with his back, Will let out a groan and Hannibal left his lips and went to his neck. Will tried to catch his breath, but it wasn’t easy to even his breathing when he could feel Hannibal’s lips and tongue in his collarbone, and his entire body pressed against his. Will gripped Hannibal’s suit jacket when the man left a path of kisses up to his earlobe. He sucked at the skin between his jaw and his ear and Will heard himself moaning.

Hannibal pulled back in that moment, and Will looked at him in between pants; the hair that the doctor usually wore perfectly combed was now disheveled, a few locks dangling over his forehead, and his calm composure had broken into a million pieces. Will felt a tug in the lower part of his stomach at the sight.

“Sorry, do you want… Do you want us to take things slowly?” Hannibal asked, but he didn’t look apologetic at all.

Will smiled and then frowned a little, still breathing open-mouthed.

“You can’t kiss me like that and then ask me if I want to take things slowly…”

“I know… but I’m afraid my plan of being a gentleman is failing more and more by the minute.”

Will dragged his hands up to Hannibal’s tie and pulled him closer again, their lips brushing against each other’s.

“I don’t want you to be a gentleman…”

That time, Will was the one to guide Hannibal to his mouth, sliding one of his hands around his shoulders and sliding the other into the man’s hair. When Will pulled a little from the locks of hair, Hannibal moaned, breaking the contact and baring his throat to him. Will almost leaped onto the exposed skin, licking from above the shirt collar up to his chin, dragging his tongue across his Adam’s apple, feeling Hannibal’s pulse beating in his throat. When he made eye contact with Hannibal again, Will saw a feral look in them, and that turned him on even more. Will felt Hannibal’s hands on his hips then, and he made him bend away from the bookshelf and towards him, and Will whimpered when their erections made contact.

“I want to taste you, Will… Would you let me?”

“Oh God, Hannibal…” Will mumbled, the only thing his brain could deliver. He pulled back a little and nodded frantically.

Hannibal used his grip on Will’s hips to move him completely away from the bookshelf, and he turned to the chair behind the desk. Will felt himself setting alight at the mere thought of what Hannibal was going to do to him. He walked backwards with Hannibal really close, and when the back of his knees hit the chair, he gestured to sit down, but Hannibal grabbed his forearm and made him stay where he was. Hannibal leaned in to steal another kiss from him, that time only a slow brush of his lips against Will’s bottom one. When he pulled back again, Will almost groaned in complaint, but the other sank into his knees in front of him, and he felt like there wasn’t enough air in the whole world to fill his lungs in that moment.

“Is the- the door locked?” Will asked, not taking his eyes off of Hannibal.

“Yes,” Hannibal replied, putting both hands on Will’s knees and trailing the fabric of his pants over his thighs.

Will dropped his head backwards when Hannibal’s hands got closer to his crotch, but he quickly forced himself to look at him, at the sight of the doctor kneeling in front of him, his eyes studying him, his long fingers tracing his thighs… Hannibal then grabbed his duty belt and started unbuckling it. He did it slowly, taking care of each strap as if it was a precious thing, and when he finally undid it, he placed it carefully on top of his desk, and Will let out a long, ragged breath that he had been holding. Hannibal undid the buttons on his uniform pants, and then he looked up at him before letting both his pants and his boxer briefs slide down the swell of his ass to pool at his ankles. Will gasped at the sudden release of his erection, and at Hannibal’s fingers, that settled back quickly on his hips. Hannibal leaned in, so close to his cock that Will had to bit his lower lip hard to contain the need of thrusting forwards. He moved Will’s uniform shirt up, leaving the lower part of his stomach exposed, and Hannibal pressed a kiss into the ridge of his hipbone, and then into the thick scar of his gunshot wound. Will felt his entire body melting, and his erection twitching at each and every one of his touches, but somehow he managed to stand still while the only thing that he wanted to do was rub himself against him.

When Hannibal finally pushed him a little, enough so Will would understood that he was asking him to sit down, he did so while he swallowed and gasped for air.

As soon as he was seated, Hannibal made him spread his legs, moving closer to him, and he grabbed Will’s tie to make him sit up and draw him to his lips once more. Hannibal kissed him unhurriedly, sucking at his lips and making him shiver with every brush of his tongue.

When Hannibal pulled back again, he looked at Will in the eyes, and for a second, Will thought he probably looked ridiculous; low gasps with each breath, legs sprawled at both of Hannibal’s sides, his erection curled against his stomach, his forehead already damp with sweat… But all he saw in Hannibal’s eyes was hunger, and another thing he couldn’t quite discern; something he had never seen in anybody’s eyes when they were directed at him. But whatever it was, he found himself longing for it, wishing he could reach out and take it with his hand to hold onto it forever.

“All right?” Hannibal asked, tilting his head a little.

“Yes. Fuck, yes, Hannibal,” Will said, and he felt like he could cry right there, in that moment, because he was so hard and he wanted him _so_ much…

Hannibal then took his tie off and unbuttoned his shirt, and once he did Will grabbed the lapels to take it off, but Hannibal stopped him.

“No. Leave it on,” he asked Will.

Will grinned despite everything. “Is this a secret fantasy of yours, _Doctor_?”

Hannibal smirked while he put a palm flat on his chest and trailed it down to his stomach.

“Not until I met you…”

That would’ve been more than enough to send a new wave of pleasure down his spine, but in that moment Hannibal also grabbed his cock with a firm grip, and Will opened his mouth, but no sound came out of it. He squeezed his eyes shut, arching his back and bucking his hips up a little into Hannibal’s hand.

“Open your eyes, Will.”

Hannibal put his other hand between Will’s uniform shirt and his side, and Will did as he had told him. He saw Hannibal’s face so close to his cock, and he gasped. And then Hannibal didn’t make him wait any longer. He took the head of Will’s cock in his mouth, and Will whimpered at how good it felt, how wet and hot his mouth was. Hannibal tightened the grip on his hip and Will felt each and every one of Hannibal’s fingers sinking into his skin while he took him deeper into his mouth. Will slid a hand to the man’s head and gripped at his hair on his nape, and he bucked his hips again. Hannibal gagged at the invasion, so Will pulled back.

“God, sorry.”

But Hannibal used the grip on his hip to pin him down on the chair and repeat the thrust himself into his mouth, taking him even deeper that time. Will moaned and hit the headrest of the chair with his head before looking at him again, his head bobbing between his legs. Hannibal did something then, pushing his cock against his palate and rubbing his tongue against the underside. Will arched his back and felt like he was going to come too quickly, but then Hannibal pulled back, letting Will breathe a little. He then traced the lower part of his cock with his tongue, from the base up to the head, where he lapped at the precum. When he wrapped his mouth again around him, Will tightened the grip on his hair, leaning backwards and closing his eyes involuntarily. It wasn’t long until he came, squirming with pleasure in the chair and trying to contain a long and deep moan and failing miserably.

Will let his hand fall from Hannibal’s hair when the doctor stood up, and then he bent down to Will’s lips once again. Will gripped his jacket and pulled him closer, wishing they weren’t in his office, that he could throw Hannibal onto a bed in that moment and roll over him, and cuddle on top of him afterwards. But Hannibal seemed to know exactly what he needed, because he kissed him slow and wet while Will caught his breath and the orgasm rippled through his body, softening every one of his muscles.

When they pulled back, Will finally opened his eyes as he gave him half a smile, and Hannibal took his hand to help him stand up. Will did so, and pulled his pants up from his heels. And then, as soon as he had buttoned them, he reached out to Hannibal’s belt at the same time that he moved closer to his lips, but Hannibal grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

“No, don’t,” Hannibal said, but he leaned in to kiss him.

Will moved back with an eyebrow arched, knowing that the other man was as hard as he had been since it was perfectly obvious, but Hannibal smiled at him.

“You have to go to work.”

“I’m late already, anyway…” Will said.

Hannibal finally let his wrist go, and he tilted his head and nuzzled Will’s neck, pressing his nose and lips under his jaw.

“Don’t worry. Besides, this way I’ll think about you tonight, during my shift. I’ll think about how your mouth will feel on me…”

His words made the hair on Will’s neck stand up, and he gasped before searching for the other’s lips with his own once again.

When their eyes met again, Hannibal started buttoning Will’s shirt with a smile on his lips, and then Will grimaced a little when he made a brusque gesture with his shoulder. Hannibal frowned a little, and he moved the shirt back to reveal a small bruise that had began forming due to the man’s hit the day before.

“The altercation?” Hannibal guessed.

“Yes,” Will shrugged with the other shoulder.

“I thought you said it was nothing.”

Hannibal ran his thumb over the bruise so lightly it didn’t even hurt Will.

“It _is_ nothing, really. It just hurts a little,” he told him, and when Hannibal looked at him narrowing his eyes and tilting his head, Will chuckled. “I swear. I would’ve gone to the hospital or told you something if I thought it was serious.”

Hannibal finally nodded after a brief pause, more convinced. Will turned around to take his duty belt and put it on while the other straightened his own clothes.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” Will asked him once both of them were presentable again.

“I’m afraid I have another surgery in the afternoon…” Hannibal told him in an apologetic tone.

“Oh god, become a psychiatrist already,” Will said, only half joking, and Hannibal grinned, taking his hand and kissing his knuckles in a brief touch.

“I’ll let you know if I can meet for lunch… However, I am completely free this weekend,” Hannibal told him, raising his eyebrows. “Will you let me invite you to dinner… at my house?”

Will took a step towards him and bit his lower lip.

“Is _dinner_ a euphemism?”

“It can mean whatever you want it to mean…” Hannibal replied, dragging his fingers from Will’s side to his back. “But I really want to cook for you.”

“Okay, dinner it is.”

They kissed again and Will wished he could stay there a few more minutes, hours, days. A knock at the door made them return to reality, and when Will went out of the office, he tried not to blush when he nodded and passed by the doctor that had knocked, who looked from Hannibal to Will with an eyebrow raised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the beginning of the smut! :P And some things are coming... (this not a pun, I swear xD) soon! :)
> 
> ETA. go check [this AMAZING art (nsfw)](http://seduszoa.tumblr.com/post/152572027508/will-dragged-his-hands-up-to-hannibals-tie-and) Meduszoa made for this chapter :33


	6. Chapter 6

Will opened his locker and checked his phone, and the disappointment filled him completely.

The day before, Hannibal had told him that he would let him know if he was able to meet him for lunch, which had sounded like a distant possibility. That’s why Will had tried to tell himself that he probably wasn’t going to make it, Hannibal probably had too much work to have lunch with him… And still, when he saw the blank screen with no messages from him, he let out a sigh.

“Hey, do you want to grab something for lunch? Or do you have another date?” Beverly asked him when he went into the room, and wiggling her eyebrows at him.

Will smiled a little a little and shook his head.

“No, I… yeah, let’s go have something to eat.”

They changed into regular clothes and left the station discussing the man another officer had arrested that morning for peeing in a fountain completely naked; apparently, he wasn’t even drunk. But when they started going down the precinct’s stairs, Will froze. Right downstairs was Hannibal, dressed in one of his suit and looking at him with a smile.

“Will?” Beverly asked, turning around when she noticed he had stopped.

But he ignored his co-worker, unable to take his eyes off of the man. Once he could close his open mouth, Will finished walking down the few stairs and stopped in front of him.

“Hannibal, I… wasn’t expecting you.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” he told him, his smile widening.

“You _did_ ,” Will said, chuckling a little.

In that moment, he realized that Beverly was still beside him, her arms crossed over her chest and a poorly contained smirk on her lips.

“Oh, sorry. Hannibal, this is Beverly, my colleague and partner. Beverly, this is my- Uh…”

Hannibal turned and offered her a hand.

“Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a pleasure.”

“Beverly Katz, likewise,” she said, shaking his hand.

Beverly turned to Will, and he saw how many questions she wanted to ask him, but she had the courtesy to keep them to herself.

“Well, I guess you have new plans for lunch,” she said in a teasing tone.

“I’m sorry, did I interrupt any important plans?”

“No!” Will and Beverly said at the same time.

She chuckled and took a step backwards. “No, of course not. Nice to meet you, Dr. Lecter. Have fun, boys!”

Will closed his eyes for a second, wishing she hadn’t just said that, but Hannibal was smiling when he looked at him.

“Sorry, she’s…”

“Charming.”

“Yeah, well, wait until you spend more than five minutes with her, you’ll change your mind,” he joked.

In that moment, Hannibal looked around them, and he leaned just a little closer to him.

“Is it all right for me to have come unannounced? If it’s an inconvenience for you and your work…”

Will then realized what he was asking, and he shook his head.

“Oh, no, no. Don’t worry, they, uh… I’ve never hidden my previous… _relationships_ at work,” he said, wrinkling his nose nervously a little at the word, “it’s never been an issue. Beverly likes to tease me, but that’s just her _charming_ personality.”

Hannibal grinned then, nodding.

“In that case…”

He took something from the inside of his overcoat, and Will almost dropped his mouth open again. Hannibal offered him a single flower, different from the ones he had sent him back in the hospital and even more beautiful; red except for a black spot in the middle and a circle of bright yellow in the very center. Will took it with a smile.

“Wow. It’s really beautiful, but… You know that I don’t know anything about flowers, right?”

“It’s a red pansy. The name comes from the French word _pensée_ , which means thought. Since I was thinking about you…”

Will pulled his lips inward and looked down at the flower for a moment, his heart fluttering inside his chest at his words. And then he stood on tiptoe and cupped Hannibal’s face with his free hand to kiss him. In that moment, he didn’t care that they were in public and in front of his precinct. The only thing he cared about was how soft Hannibal’s shaved skin felt under his fingertips, about Hannibal’s lips moving against his, about his tongue slowly going into Will’s mouth when he parted his lips, about how his cheekbone felt under Will’s exploring hand, and how Hannibal held him with both arms around him, his body so warm and his scent so good.

When they broke the kiss, Will chuckled and cleared his throat looking around him, feeling his cheeks reddening a little.

“So… Tell me something. There are twelve precincts in Baltimore, how did you know which one was mine?”

“Are you reconsidering the stalker theory?”

Will raised his free hand and moved it sideways as a way of saying that maybe he was, but he smiled to let him know he was joking, since he knew that information wasn’t actually that hard to find with a simple search on the web.

“Shall we?” Hannibal asked then, turning away from the precinct, and Will nodded.

They went to a little Italian place that was near the station, and they didn’t speak much while they waited for their orders. And then, right after the waiter brought them their meals and they had thanked him, Hannibal cleared his throat.

“So… Am I right to assume you have had many other relationships with men in the past, then?” Hannibal asked while he took his glass of water to take a sip from it.

Will grinned. He had known Hannibal probably would ask him about it since he had admitted that he had never hidden them at work.

“Well, not exactly _many_. And calling them relationships would be being pretty generous,” Will said, trying to keep a light tone of voice, but knowing Hannibal had probably sensed the bitter inflection. “But… yeah. There have been a few men. And women.”

“Bisexual, then?” Hannibal asked without altering his voice.

“I guess,” Will shrugged. “I’ve never bothered to give it a name, actually. The first time I had an experience with a man, I thought it had been a one-time thing. Then it happened again a couple of years later, and I just accepted it.”

Hannibal nodded, slowly chewing his fusilli, and Will could almost hear his thoughts trying to discern how or when that had happened. Will smiled a little.

“What about you?”

“Gender has never been an issue to me,” Hannibal said after wiping his mouth with his napkin.

“Bisexual, too?”  
“I believe the correct term is pansexual,” he said, tipping his head a little, “although like you, I’ve never been given labels much thought.”

Will nodded, taking a mouthful of the spaghetti with pesto he had ordered while Hannibal took another sip of his drink.

“Now that we’re on the subject… About before,” Will said when he had swallowed, while he rolled more of his spaghetti onto his fork, though without the intention of eating them immediately. “When I was introducing you to Beverly…”

“Yes?”

Will looked at him and saw that he had a smug smile on his lips, so he rolled his eyes. Hannibal knew very well where he was going, but he still was going to make Will say it.

“You know, it’s just… We haven’t talked about it, so I… I didn’t know if- You can help me a little, you know?”

Hannibal smiled broadly then, and he left his fork on his plate.

“I think you’re doing perfectly on your own.”

“Can I get a refund for this flower, please?”

That made Hannibal smile wider, and he finally leaned closer, putting a hand above Will’s over the table.

“Will, don’t worry. I know this is fairly new for both of us.”

“It _is_ ,” Will agreed, huffing a little. “I just didn’t know if this was… you know.”

“More than a couple of dates?” Hannibal finished for him.

Will swallowed trying to ease the sudden lump in his throat, and he nodded. He hadn’t meant to have _that_ kind of talk so soon, but the possibility that Hannibal was just toying with him was eating him alive.

“It is, for me. I don’t expect you to feel the same way, but if you do-”

“I do,” Will said a little too quickly, his heart beating too fast inside his chest. But he relaxed a little when Hannibal smiled again.

“Then we are on the same page. And about the incident with your co-worker…” he said, his smiled turning into a smirk as he stroked his thumb over the back of Will’s hand. “You may call me whatever you want. Boyfriend… partner…” he said, and Will’s heart skipped a beat again at the words, so unfamiliar for him. “Although maybe I would avoid introducing each other as _friends_.”

Will felt himself blushing a little at his words, but he nodded. He turned his hand around and squeezed Hannibal’s in answer, a warm feeling spreading through his chest.

****

When he returned to work after having said goodbye to Hannibal, he found the precinct filled with people going from here to there, and Will frowned when he saw the FBI logo on their jackets. He went to his locker room to put the flower Hannibal had given him, and to change into his uniform. When he went out again, he located Beverly and walked to her.

“Hey, what’s happening?”

Beverly opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, the door from the police chief’s office opened, and the man’s eyes scanned the room until they stopped directly on him.

“Graham! Come here, now.”

Will looked at Beverly, who pursed her lips and shrugged, but ended giving him an encouraging squeeze on his good shoulder as he turned to the office.

When Will closed the door behind him after going in, he looked at the two strangers standing beside the chief’s desk. There was a woman and a man, both dressed in suits, and he immediately knew they were FBI agents too.

“Will, this is Agent Cruz,” Police Chief Wells said, and the woman nodded towards him, “and Agent Davis.”

Will greeted them and stood still in the middle of the room, wondering why they had called him in. He doubted that whatever they were doing there had anything to do with his situation and his imminent transfer from the police to what he chose to do after.

“Mr. Graham, I understand that you’re on your last days as a police officer, is that right?” Agent Cruz asked him.

“That’s right, ma’am,” Will replied, and he waited while the other man looked at a file he had in his hands, that he guessed would be his. Will clenched his jaw at the thought that they probably had been talking about him.

“You were offered a position as a homicide detective, and you rejected it,” he said, and Will waited silently, since it wasn’t a question. “Why?”

“I preferred to continue working as an officer… while I thought about taking the job the FBI offered to me.”

“Ah, yes, you also rejected that.”

“I said I would think about it,” Will said, since it was strictly the truth.

“And now they’re going to retire you. Are you going to teach in Quantico?” Agent Davis asked him, ignoring his remark.

“They told me that I could have a teacher’s position at Quantico, yes.”

“Is that a yes or a no?”  
“I’m still thinking about it,” Will said trying to control his voice, not wanting to give his definitive answer yet, and much less to that man.

The agent let a long breath out, and shared a look with the woman. Then, he threw Will’s file on the desk.

“They told us you have this… way of reading a crime scene? A way of reading the serial killers nobody can,” he said, and Will’s eyes averted momentarily to the Chief. So _that_ was why they had called him in.

“Interpreting the evidence, yes, sir,” Will said, because he was always reluctant to call it ‘getting into the killers’ mind’, as some people had called it before.

“Have you ever been in one of the Chesapeake Ripper’s crime scenes?” Agent Cruz asked him then.

The mention made Will look directly at the woman’s eyes, if only for a moment. It didn’t look like she was joking.

“No, ma’am. I’ve studied some of the cases, but… He hasn’t killed in three years.”

“Well, it seems like he’s out of retirement,” Agent Davis said, sighing through his nose.

“We’re _not_ entirely sure it’s him,” Agent Cruz said, treading more carefully than his partner. “We haven’t ruled out a copycat or a new killer. That’s why we want you to take a look at the scene, give us your opinion.”

Will looked down, knowing he couldn’t refuse. He ended up going with them, and the FBI agents took him into an alley, away from the center of Baltimore and away from the area of his precinct. They told the police officers that worked there to not let anyone in, and the forensic team to clear the scene, and then they were alone in the alley.

“Matthew Lawson, mid-thirties. He works as an IT consultant in an office a couple of blocks away. The lab guys say he was killed last night, but nobody found him until a few hours ago,” Agent Cruz said.

Will took a step forward, leaving the two agents behind.

“So, what do you think?” the man asked him. Will pursed his lips at his impatience. “Why leave him in this alley…?

“Maybe he didn’t want anyone to find the body for a few days?” Agent Cruz suggested.

“No, he wanted him to be found,” Will said, sure about that, at least. “He went to all this trouble, he didn’t want it to remain hidden… He just needed privacy, he wanted to dedicate the time this deserved, and this alley was perfect for that.”

He couldn’t see the agents, but he could almost feel them sharing another look because of his words. They told him they were going to give him space, and then Will heard their steps going away… He breathed in and out slowly, and then, he closed his eyes, letting the pendulum swing behind his eyelids.

The alley was deserted that late into the night, so his victim had been relaxed. When he leaped on him, he had caught him off-guard, dragging him to the alley as quickly as he could. The man had tried to resist, kicking the air and throwing his hands backwards in an attempt to grab at his hair. But it had been futile, because the second he had expertly wrapped an arm around the man’s neck, he knew he had already won. Will pressed harder against the man’s trachea, strangling him while he resisted the weak attempts. When the body went limp, he left him on the ground, took a part of him, and then he sewed him up and got to work; he wanted someone to see this, so it had to be striking. Will elevated the body with the ropes, and then he observed his finished work, satisfied. The body was in the lotus position, hanging two feet above the ground.

When Will opened his eyes, he gasped and breathed for air. It had been a long time since he had done that in a crime scene, but it had been as easy as slicing butter… _Too_ easy, even more than it usually was.

“Mr. Graham?”

He turned, and kept his eyes fixed on the agents’ shoulders.

“It’s him,” Will confirmed. “It’s The Chesapeake Ripper.”

The woman let out a long breath. “We were hoping it wasn’t him…”

“What’s the missing organ?” Will asked.

“Lab guys say it’s the lungs,” Agent Cruz told him. “Do you have any idea of why he takes an organ from them?”

Will almost huffed out a laugh, but contained it before it could ascend in his throat. Nobody had ever been able to tell _why_ exactly the Ripper took an organ from his victims. All they had were conjectures, theories, each crazier than the last one.

“No, I don’t...”

Most serial killers kept a trophy, but what did he do with the organs? Stash them into jars with a label from each victim…? No, this killer seemed too intelligent for that. And yet…

“Okay, what _can_ you tell us, Mr. Graham? The victim, was it random?” Davis said, urging him again.

“No… not exactly. I don’t think they knew each other well, but it’s not random, either. They had probably met before, even if it was briefly.”

“Okay… What else?”

“This is a message, or… a gift. I’m not sure,” Will said, and he ran a hand over his face.

“A gift?” Cruz asked, frowning.

“To someone. He wants someone to see this.”

The agents looked at each other, and then back at Will.

“The Chesapeake Ripper loved making the FBI and the police look like fools, but…” Davis said, and he huffed out a chuckled. “A gift so someone else? To whom? And why…?”

Will shook his head while he shrugged, because that wasn’t a question he could answer… At least, not yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised there would be an actual plot apart from Hannibal and Will being thirsty for each other, and here it begins! The Chesapeake Ripper is back from his holidays :P  
> (Also, remember that Hannibal sometimes killed as the Chesapeake Ripper and other times he didn't. That doesn't mean he has been three years without killing anyone ^^)
> 
> Also, the other day [Sirenja](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sirenja) sent me these [amazing manips](http://acemattmrdck.tumblr.com/post/141422422056) of Will as a cop, and they're SO perfect I just needed to link them and probably use them for an edit :)


	7. Chapter 7

Will rang the doorbell, and then he checked once again that the blue shirt he had bought that same morning was straight and still tucked inside his pants. The door opened a moment later, and he smiled at the sight of Hannibal, dressed more informally than he usually did, with only a pair of dark pants and a crimson shirt beneath the white apron he was wearing around his waist.

“Will,” he greeted him, stepping aside to let him enter.

Will did so, and as soon as he stepped inside the hallway, he started looking around, curiously taking everything in, since it was the first time he was in Hannibal’s home. He heard low classical music coming from the rooms ahead, and he inevitably remembered the day he had taken him home in his car.

“Is that for me?” Hannibal asked then, interrupting his thoughts.

Will turned to him, but it wasn’t until he followed his gaze that he remembered the wine bottle in his hands.

“Oh! Yes. You told me not to bring anything to eat, but it felt rude not to bring anything at all.”

Hannibal’s face lit up with a smile, and he leaned in to press a chaste kiss on Will’s lips. But when he was moving back, Will leaned forwards, prolonging and deepening the kiss. He had missed him, missed the contact of Hannibal’s lips against his, the touch of his hands, the look in his eyes, which seemed to contain a thousand mysteries that Will wanted to unveil, to discover.

When he pulled back, Hannibal smiled at him again.

“Sorry, I just missed you,” Will said before the other could say anything.

“Believe me, I am more than okay with this.”

Will finally gave him the bottle, and Hannibal took it and led him through the hallway and a beautiful decorated living room that Will doubted Hannibal ever used, for some reason. While they headed towards the kitchen, Will couldn’t help but glance at the other rooms he walked by; what he guessed would be the dining room, and another one with a fire burning in the fireplace. Everything was elegantly decorated.

Once they were in the kitchen, Hannibal left the wine bottle on the counter while Will inspected everything; the huge pantry that took up an entire wall of the kitchen, the counter full of appliances, some of which Will didn’t even know what they were for, the knives and other tools, that looked like something you would expect to find in a professional kitchen instead of a house.

“May I?” Hannibal said then, pointing at the coat Will had draped over his arm.

Will nodded and gave it to him, and Hannibal went out of the kitchen, probably to hang it up. Left alone, Will went to the counter isle in the center of the kitchen and dragged his fingertips over the cool surface while he walked around it. There was a tray with sliced meat and vegetables half chopped over a cutting board, and there was something else in the oven.

For a second, Will thought about how strange was to be there, in Hannibal’s house, in his _kitchen_ , like he had entered in the private lair of a wild animal. But the thought actually made him smile, because he would never have imagined himself being in that situation when he was still in the hospital, even when he started thinking about Hannibal as more than just his doctor.

“I hope you like lamb,” Hannibal said, reappearing in the kitchen.

“I do. Although today I’d really eat anything, I’m _so_ hungry…”

Will realized a second too late how that sounded, so he cleared his throat and looked down, although he didn’t miss the smirk on Hannibal’s lips. The man opened the bottle Will had brought, poured two glasses and circled the counter island until he was beside Will. He picked up the glass Hannibal was offering him, and sipped it. Will didn’t know much about wines, but apparently the owner of the shop where he had bought it wasn’t lying when he had told him that it was a good wine. He saw it confirmed when he watched Hannibal sipping at it and nodding approvingly as he ran his tongue over his lips.

“Did you work today?” Hannibal asked with a tone of surprise in his voice, since it was Saturday and Will usually didn’t work on the weekends. He left his glass of wine and picked up the knife to resume what Will had probably interrupted with his arrival.

“Yeah, they called me to work today, since it’s been a couple of crazy days…” Will sighed.

Hannibal slowed the movement of the knife and watched him from time to time, patiently waiting for him to continue talking, so Will tried to smile.

“There was… a murder. The FBI came and everything. I’m sure you’re familiar with The Chesapeake Ripper?” he asked, even though it wasn’t necessary. _Everyone_ , even outside of Baltimore, knew about The Chesapeake Ripper.

Hannibal cocked his head, stopping the knife altogether. “Yes, I am. Although I thought he hadn’t killed anyone in three years.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said, too. It seems like something awoke him.”

Hannibal looked down and continued cutting the vegetables with the slightest frown in his brow. Will thought that the reappearance of a killer like that _was_ something to worry about, to say the least.

“Are you certain that it’s him? Couldn’t it be another killer?”

“No…” Will said, convinced, and he ran a finger around the rim of the glass. “They asked for my opinion and they took me to the crime scene.”

“Even when you’re about to retire from the police department?”

“Yes… I suspect they’re sort of testing me,” he said, and he huffed out a bitter laugh.

“The skills that you said you had… That’s how you know it was him?”

Will nodded, and then he swallowed, refusing to look at Hannibal in that moment.

“I saw him. I… _felt_ him. I’ve studied other scenes from The Chesapeake Ripper before, and… it felt like him. I’m sure.”

Will suddenly realized where he was, and with who, so he looked up and smiled awkwardly. Hannibal was observing him intently again.

“I’m sorry, I’m talking too much about this, aren’t I?”

“Not at all, I asked you, and I’m genuinely interested,” Hannibal said, leaving the knife on the counter and cleaning his hands with a rag he had hanging by the waist. He took a step towards Will and put a hand on his shoulder. “I want to know everything you want to tell me about you, whether it’s work related or anything at all.”

Will smiled and he couldn’t resist leaning in towards him. He closed his eyes as he touched Hannibal’s lips, and relaxed against them, feeling the tension in his muscles slowly fading as he raised a hand to cradle Hannibal’s neck. Will inhaled his scent as he opened his lips to deepen the contact, dragging his fingers to his nape and sliding them into his hair. He felt one of Hannibal’s hands in his hip, drawing him closer still.

When he pulled back, he met Hannibal’s eyes and he couldn’t help but to let out a contented sigh from his lips.

“You smell really good,” Will said, trying to fight the idiotic smile he felt creeping to his lips.

“Hmm, so do you. Is that a new aftershave?”

Will blushed a little at knowing he had noticed the change, and ran his tongue across his own lips, tasting Hannibal and the wine they were sharing in them.

“Yeah. I hated the one I had, but I kept getting it for Christmas.”

“I certainly prefer this one. Or your natural scent.”

Hannibal tilted his head and nuzzled Will’s neck, inhaling deeply through his nose, and Will felt his stomach flipping while he held onto Hannibal’s shoulders.

“Do you intend for us to actually eat dinner? Because this is not the best strategy for that plan,” Will whispered.

Hannibal pulled back, a grin tugging at his lips that told Will he was not even slightly sorry for having caused Will’s breathing to turn uneven.

“You are completely right. And speaking of, why don’t you go to the library, make yourself comfortable?” he said, nodding towards the open space that was the kitchen entrance. “I’ll serve an appetizer while we wait.”

“All right. Although I could set the table, if you tell me where everything is.”

Hannibal told him that he would find everything in the dining room, and Will left him while he took something out of the oven and put the tray with the lamb and the vegetables inside.

Indeed, he found everything he needed to set the table in the dining room. He hesitated when he saw the different cutlery in the drawer, since he had no idea which ones were meant for formal dinners and which ones would be to use in a more day-to-day basis. He ended up choosing one of the sets and tried to arrange everything as carefully as he could at both sides of the large table. He observed the room while he did that, his eyes wandering through the painting hanged above the empty fireplace, that he recognized to be of Leda and the Swan, even if he didn’t know the artist. Surrounding the painting was a set of horns, and in the centerpiece, a couple of ostrich eggs. Will wondered if the horns and eggs would be real, and realized he wouldn’t be too surprised if they were, matching perfectly the house and Hannibal himself.

The opposite wall, however, was empty. There were a sort of tiered shelves, but they didn’t have anything on them, and he wondered what Hannibal was planning on putting there.

Once he had finished in the dining room, he moved to what Hannibal had called the _library_ , which ended up being the room he had briefly passed by. But now that he was there on his own, he devoured everything with his eyes as soon as he stepped in. There was a piano in a corner of the room, and he wondered if it was merely a decoration or if Hannibal actually played. There was a big couch across from the fireplace, and a beautiful rug under the mahogany coffee table in front of the couch. But what caught his eye from the first moment were the bookshelves that served as walls and gave that room the rightful name Hannibal had used. There was hardly a single space without books, and Will took a step towards one of the bookshelves, inhaling the scent but not touching anything. For some reason, he thought it would be impolite to do so, so he kept his hands hanging at his sides while he observed the titles on the books’ spines.

He finally went to the opposite corner of the room, where there was a table right under a big, tall window that currently had the curtains drawn. There were dozens of drawings on top of the table, and somehow, he couldn’t resist touching them. He took one, a drawing of a beautiful building, and he remembered the paintings in Hannibal’s office; one of them was of the same building, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Do you like them?”

Will jumped a little at the sound of his voice. He turned around with the drawing in his hand, caught in the act. Hannibal had taken the apron off, although he still had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up.

“I- Sorry, I couldn’t help but to pry,” Will said, looking back at the drawing. He was instantly captivated once again. “Did you draw these?”

Hannibal went to him and offered him his glass of wine, which he had forgotten in the kitchen. Will left the drawing, afraid of damaging it, before taking the glass.

“I did,” Hannibal said, pocketing a hand in his suit pants. “And do not apologize for looking at them, Will. I would’ve showed them to you later, probably. So, do you like them?”

“I do… A lot. You are _very_ good,” he said, furrowing his brow a little. Hannibal chuckled softly.

“Thank you, although it almost hurts me how surprised you sound.”

Will smiled, shaking his head.

“Not surprised, exactly. It’s just… It’s nice to get to know you better, but with every new thing I find out about you, you seem a little more intimidating.”

“Because I know how to draw?”

“Because you know how to draw, you cook… Do you play the piano, too?” Will asked, pointing at it across the room.

Hannibal raised his eyebrows in an innocent expression, and Will had his answer.

“You _also_ play the piano.”

“Well, not only the piano,” Hannibal said, shrugging a little.

“Please, shut up,” Will said, laughing.

Will turned to the drawings again and looked at the different perspectives of what looked like the same building.

“What is this? I saw that you also had a drawing of this building in your office.”

“You have a good eye. It’s the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore,” Hannibal said, the name slipping off of his tongue easily. “In Florence, Italy.”

“Have you been there?”

Hannibal took a sip from his glass of wine, and then he nodded, but Will saw something in his eyes… Nostalgia, perhaps.

“I have. I actually lived there for a few years after I left Lithuania.”

Will remembered the story, and he felt bad about having asked him, but he wanted, _needed_ to know more about Hannibal. The other seemed to guess that, because he continued without Will having to ask him anything.

“I spent most of my youth there and became a man. And of course, I developed my passions for the fine arts and good music.”

Will smiled, wishing he could peek into Hannibal’s memories and see them as clearly as the drawings. And then something occurred to Will.

“Wait, so you speak Lithuanian, English _and_ Italian…?”

Hannibal tried to contain a smile, failing.

“And a couple of other languages. Although my German is a little rusted.”

“Of course… your _German_ ,” Will snorted.

****

The _appetizer_ turned out to be chicken liver crostini, as Hannibal told him after he guided him to the table. When Will put one of the little toasts in his mouth, he had to close his eyes, unable to contain the moan that came out of his mouth, which apparently pleased Hannibal.

When the dinner was ready, they had already emptied more than half of the wine bottle, but Will had the same feeling as he had had the night in the restaurant; as if Hannibal’s presence was far more responsible for his intoxication than any amount of alcohol he could have.

When they finished the delicious dinner and cleared the table, Hannibal made Will move to the library again, and he had two plates in his hands when he returned from the kitchen.

“Triple-chocolate mousse,” Hannibal announced, giving him one of them and sitting beside him on the couch.

“When I said I was hungry, I didn’t mean that I wanted to eat everything in your kitchen, you know.”

Will sat up in the comfortable couch and tried the dessert, and his mouth still watered despite him not being hungry anymore. He shook his head while he took another bite, wondering how something could be so good.

When they finished, they left the plates on the coffee table, and before Will could say anything, Hannibal leaned towards him. Will stayed very still while he dragged his thumb across the corner of his mouth, slightly brushing his bottom lip. When he moved back, Will stared as Hannibal looked at the chocolate stain in his finger, and then he licked it, deliberately sucking at his thumb as slowly as he could. Will’s gaze fell upon Hannibal’s mouth, and he had to make himself look away when Hannibal looked at him with half a smile on his lips.

“Would you like me to play something for you?” Hannibal asked then as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just left Will half-hard with that display.

“Uh… Play?” Will asked, and then he remembered the instrument. “Oh, on the- the piano. Yeah- Yes, please.”

Hannibal rose to his feet and offered Will his hand. He took it, and the man led him to the piano, where he sat on a side of the bench, leaving a space for him. Will sat beside him while Hannibal carefully lifted the fallboard. He stood still for a moment, brushed the keys with his fingers, and then, started playing. Will didn’t recognize the melody, but as Hannibal kept playing, the music lifted him to another world. A world in which he was in the dark but he could see a light now, slowly brightening everything around him. A world in which he, for the first time in a long time, wasn’t feeling as alone as he had always felt.

When the melody came to an end, Will’s eyes flickered open, and he had to swallow to be able to start breathing evenly again.

“What… what is that?”

“My own composition,” Hannibal replied, still looking down at the keys. “I composed it a while ago, for whenever I felt like there was no path ahead. To remind me that there always is.”

Hannibal finally shifted his eyes to look at him, and Will frowned a little, wanting to understand what he was referring to, but also feeling the truth behind them.

“It’s beautiful.”

Hannibal smiled, and then he took one of Will’s hands in his, but he made no other movement apart from drawing circles with his thumb over the back of his hand. And then Will suddenly let out a nervous laugh.

“Okay, what’s the catch?”

Hannibal tilted his head without losing the slight smile on his lips.

“What do you mean?”

“Why… _how_ were you single?”

Hannibal breathed out a half laugh, and Will wrinkled his forehead.

“That… sounds really bad, but… Really. _How_ is that possible, and what am _I_ doing here?”

“Why would you ask that, Will?”

“Well, let’s see: you’re a successful surgeon about to be, allow me to foresee, a successful psychiatrist. You’re… well, I don’t want to say rich, but I mean…” Will said, and he pointed around him. “Your food is better than _any_ restaurant I’ve ever been to, you _can_ draw, you speak I don’t even want to know how many languages, and also this,” he said, nodding at the piano. “And somehow, right now you’re here, sitting with… me.”

“And there’s no other company I’d rather have,” Hannibal said without hesitation. Will raised his eyebrows. “Maybe I _was_ waiting for you to come along.”

“Sure, because I am such a Prince Charming.”

Hannibal grinned, and Will smiled a little. It wasn’t even lack of self-esteem what drove him to ask that, but pure common sense. But love, Will decided, was not something that could be controlled or fabricated. And he couldn’t be completely sure if Hannibal felt the same as he did when they touched, or felt the need of seeing him as Will did in the moments they were apart, but he certainly was going to enjoy while it lasted.

“May I ask you something, Will?” Hannibal asked him then, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Sure,” Will said, thankful for the change of subject.

“It may not be the most proper time for this, but… Back in the hospital, when you told me about how you had been wounded,” he said, and Will furrowed his brow a little, because he had not expected _that_.

“Yes?”  
“You told me you hadn’t been able to shoot the killer, but you never really told me why, or what had happened.”

Will wondered for a moment why Hannibal was so interested in that detail, so interested in the conversation they had had when they had met, and why in that moment… But Hannibal had told him that very same night that he wanted to know anything and everything about him. And maybe Will hadn’t allowed himself to think too much about that moment, but in that instant, he wanted to share it with Hannibal.

Will closed his eyes for a second, remembering the pursuit, Beverly going around the warehouse and Will staying in the main entrance. ‘ _Wait for the backup, Will!_ ’, she had told him. But he knew that killer, he had felt his murders like they were his, and he couldn’t risk him getting away… so he stepped inside, pointing his gun in front of him.

“We had been looking for this guy for over a year,” Will said, opening his eyes but not looking above Hannibal’s chest. “He had killed seven people, slashed their throats, left them in the middle of the street. It was… vicious. Just for the sake of violence, no elegance in it whatsoever.”

Will had walked into the warehouse, trying to muffle his steps so the killer wouldn’t know he was approaching. And when he turned around a shelf, there he was, in front of him.

“I didn’t shoot because I didn’t want to just catch him… I wanted to kill him. In that moment, I _really_ wanted to kill him, right there… so I panicked and froze. And well, you know how that ended.”

Will let the memory go away and he finally looked up. He expected to see a frown in Hannibal’s brow, or a shocked or horrified look at his words… But Hannibal was just watching him, and Will tried to smile a little.

“Have I scared you off now?”

Hannibal finally moved, leaning closer to him.

“Never.”

“You really _are_ different from everyone, aren’t you?” Will whispered, bewildered and more pleased than he wanted to admit because of his answer.

“I was just going to say the same to you…”

Will noticed that Hannibal hadn’t let go of his hand when he lifted it to his mouth. Hannibal kissed the back of his hand, and then he turned it and kissed his palm. After that, he moved down and slowly brushed the skin over his wrist with his lips, right where his pulse was accelerating with each of the man’s touches. Will was breathing open-mouthed, and when Hannibal looked up at him through heavy lidded eyes, Will couldn’t stay still anymore. He leaned towards Hannibal, claiming his mouth in a hungry and avid kiss, grabbing his shirt to pull him closer. The angle wasn’t right, the bench was too small to shift the way Will wanted, and the piano stopped his movement when he tried to get even closer to Hannibal, so he grunted in frustration. Hannibal seemed to read his mind, because he suddenly broke the kiss and stood up, taking Will’s hand again and dragging him with him. As soon as Will was out of the bench, he pushed Hannibal against the closest bookshelf. He saw the books shaking a little with the hit, threatening to fall off the shelves, but Hannibal kissed him again and Will forgot about everything else that weren’t the doctor’s lips.

One of Hannibal’s hands trailed his shirt across his side, and the other slid in his hair, gripping and pulling his curls a little, exactly as Will had done to him in his office. Will moaned and raised his chin, and Hannibal used that to kiss him all over his jaw and neck.

“I would have to add kissing to the list of things you excel at,” Will told him in between ragged breaths.

“Maybe I just have the right partner for this particular activity.”

Will chuckled a little, feeling his body setting alight more and more with each of Hannibal’s touches. Hannibal leaned away from the bookshelves, but Will hadn’t finished there yet, so he pushed him with both hands on his shoulders, catching him a little off guard. But the man smiled when their eyes met, so Will went again to his lips. First he licked them, merely brushing with his tongue, and then he nipped at his bottom lip. Will let his lips hover over Hannibal’s, but instead of kissing him, he descended to his neck. Will undid only two buttons from Hannibal’s shirt, and then he bit and sucked at the skin that would be visible right above the collar shirt once Hannibal were properly dressed. He felt Hannibal’s low moan vibrating in his lips while Will bit, sucked and kissed the spot. When he pulled back, he smirked at the mark he had left on Hannibal.

“That way you’ll think about me during the ER shifts,” Will said, running his thumb over it and wiping away some of his own saliva.

He looked at Hannibal, who was still, breathing heavily through his parted lips. Will saw once again that wild expression in his eyes, and he felt his lower stomach burning in response. Hannibal moved away from the shelf, and that time, Will let him. They stumbled out of the library, Hannibal guiding him blindly around his house, and Will letting himself be pushed while they kissed each other. They had to separate from one another to walk upstairs, but once they reached the room they were looking for, they had undressed each other almost completely.

Hannibal’s bedroom was as well decorated as the rest of the house, with beautiful furniture and a couple of paintings hanging on the walls. But when he went into the room, for a moment Will only had eyes for the bed; the base was a squared, large platform, and in the middle was the mattress, dressed in cream-colored sheets and with a single scarlet cushion decorating it.

Will then turned to look at the man in front of him, who had been staring at him while he observed the bedroom. His gaze fell upon his hairy chest, which was heaving, and down to the erection still caged inside his dark boxer briefs. When Will looked at the other’s eyes again, he went to him and put a hand on his stomach.

“I believe there was a pending issue between you and I,” Will purred, pushing him a little backwards.

Hannibal lifted the corner of his lips up in a lewd smile, knowing very well what Will was referring to, and he let Will push him until he was sitting on the mattress, with his feet on the platform. Will took his own underwear off before kneeling on the platform between Hannibal’s knees, and then he pushed the man onto the mattress with a hand on his shoulder, and he went down. Will started kissing his chest, drawing with his tongue and lips a trail from his left side down to his belly, where he bit him to elicit a rumble out of Hannibal. Then, Will hooked his thumbs on the elastic of Hannibal’s underwear, and he took it off with his help. Once he had thrown the garment away, he turned to him. Will took a moment to take in the sight in front of him, of the doctor naked and awaiting, with his knees spread at Will’s sides… and it was entirely for _him_.

When Will grabbed his cock with a firm hand, Hannibal dropped his head on the mattress and Will gripped at his waist with his other hand. And then, he finally descended to him. Hannibal tasted the perfect combination of salty and musky, his scent intoxicating, and Will felt light-headed when he started taking him in his mouth. Will had wanted to do this so much since the day in his office, he had even _dreamed_ about it the previous night, waking up soaked in sweat and for the first time in a long time, not because of a nightmare. But now that they were _really_ there, he knew he would want to do it once again, and again, and a thousand more times after that.

Will felt Hannibal’s fingers tangling in his hair, gripping his curls without stopping or altering his movements. Hannibal let out a long moan, sending waves of pleasure to Will’s own leaking cock. Will tried to reply to him by changing the rhythm and taking him deeper, rumbling too so he would feel it, but then Hannibal’s grip tightened.

“Will, stop… Will.”

He left him, frowning at his request.

“Something wrong?” he asked, and Hannibal chuckled, out of breath.

Hannibal’s hand moved from his hair to his cheek while he sat up a bit.

“Not at all. But I’d like to do much more with you right now, and you’re about to render me useless for a few minutes.”

Will snorted at the _few minutes_ , but he also smiled, because that meant he wasn’t doing it wrong. He gave Hannibal a brief kiss and then the other crawled over the mattress to reach the nightstand. Will climbed on the bed and sat on his heels in the center of it. When the other turned around, condoms and lube in hand, Will pulled him closer by the nape, kissing him again and whimpering when their chests and cocks made contact.

Hannibal took a condom out of the box, but Will stopped him grabbing his wrist, and then he took it and put it on Hannibal himself, making the other’s breathing turn even heavier. Once he did that, Hannibal clashed his mouth against him again, pushing him with the kiss until Will was lying down on the bed. Hannibal’s lips wandered downwards, kissing his already damp skin over his clavicle and over his smooth chest, stopping to press his tongue flat over his nipple. When Hannibal teased with his teeth, Will arched a little upwards as a sob escaped his lips.

When he had given both of his nipples the same attention, Hannibal straightened and Will knew what was coming, so he adjusted his position, lifting his hips to make it easier for him. Hannibal put both hands on the back of Will’s knees to spread his legs further, and when he took the lube, he smiled at him, his face shadowed by the locks of hair falling over his forehead. When he felt Hannibal’s pads pressing the taut muscle, his breath hitched in his throat. Hannibal started circling his fingers, and his free hand returned to Will’s knee, where he caressed it down his thigh in a soothing movement. It accomplished what Will knew Hannibal had meant, and he felt his entire body relaxing under his touch. Will let his head fall over the pillows, letting out a long breath while Hannibal kept massaging him. And finally, when Will had relaxed completely, he felt the first of Hannibal’s finger slowly opening him up.

Hannibal leaned forwards, bending to meet his mouth. Will returned the kiss in between gasps, their lips moving as the same slow rhythm of Hannibal’s finger. When another finger joined the first, Will gasped again, and Hannibal brought his free hand to his head, where he fondled his curls as his mouth anchored him with soft kisses in his chin, in his jaw, in the corner of his mouth. And then, Hannibal went deeper inside him and he reached his prostate.

“Oh, god, Hannibal…” Will mumbled while he grabbed the sheets at his sides.

Hannibal smiled against his mouth and licked Will’s lips, repeating the movement with his fingers. After he added a third finger and massaged him for minutes, he went out of him, and Will felt like he was going to come with the slightest touch.

Hannibal put a hand on his waist, so Will propped himself up on an elbow to turn around. Hannibal helped him lift his waist up, and then Will felt him settling behind him. He caressed Will’s back, drawing a line over his spine that ended turning until he met his hip, where he gripped him once again. When Hannibal pushed himself inside slowly, Will grasped the sheets again, because it felt _so_ good, _so_ much of Hannibal inside him already, and he knew the man was only starting. He tried to contain his constant panting and moaning, but when Hannibal thrust carefully inside him, he dropped his sweaty forehead onto the mattress and let every sound out of him. Hannibal sank his fingers deeper into the skin of his hips in answer, enough so Will knew it would leave a bruise, and he reveled in the thought of being marked by him.

Will resisted the urge of touching himself and ending too quickly, but when Hannibal adjusted his thrusts and hit the same spot he had found with his fingers, Will whimpered against the sheets and rocked his hips backwards against Hannibal, and knew he wouldn’t even need to touch himself, feeling almost delirious with that much pleasure.

“Hannibal…” he managed to say.

The man answered by quickening his movements, grabbing him with both hands and sinking inside him with every thrust, exactly as Will wanted, exactly as Will needed.

It wasn’t long until Will arched his back and came in a blazing sensation, his moan muffled against the mattress. Hannibal followed closely after a couple more thrusts inside him.

Hannibal bent down again, crashing his chest against Will’s back while he rumbled against his sweaty skin, feeling the last remnants of Hannibal’s orgasm rippling inside him. After a few seconds, he felt the man’s tongue running up his spine exactly as he had done with his hand, and Will trembled with the _very_ pleasant sensation. Finally, Hannibal released his hips and came out of him, and Will completely collapsed onto the bed while he still felt the orgasm pulsing in his entire body.

While Hannibal went out of bed to throw away the condom, Will rolled on the mattress weakly, his muscles turned to jelly, and when he returned, Will spread his arms to make him come to him. Hannibal did so, leaning on his elbow beside him and kissing him again, their limbs tangling together.

“I’m sorry,” Will said when he pulled back with a sleepy smile.

“What for?” Hannibal asked, caressing his damp curls away from his forehead.

“I made a mess out of your fancy sheets.”

Hannibal chuckled a little, catching Will’s lower lip between his teeth for a moment. “That can be easily changed. And besides… I think I like that you made such a mess because of me.”

Will smiled too, and then he pulled him into another kiss while Hannibal dragged a hand across his back.

They changed the bed and cleaned themselves when they were able to move, and when they lay down again, Hannibal embraced Will from behind while they warmed up the new, cold sheets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week there won't be an update, but I hope you forgive me because a) this chapter has been a bit longer, and... well... smut! And b) IT'S [TRISTHAD WEEK](http://tristhad-week.tumblr.com/post/140090601783/hello-tristhad-fans-it-is-with-great-pleasure)!!! I'll be participating with a fic that I will post throughout the week :)  
> After that, I guess updates will return as normal ;)
> 
> In case you can't visualize it, this is sort of how I imagined [Hannibal's bed](http://st.hzcdn.com/simgs/0e31540e009b22ca_4-7833/asiatico-camas-japonesas.jpg), but fancier, probably xD
> 
> Also, I want to thank you all SO much for all the feedback I'm receiving with this fic, for your kudos, comments, tweets and basically everything. Thank you so so much *draws hearts around all of you*


	8. Chapter 8

Will woke up to the feeling of an unfamiliar weight on his back. His eyes flickered open and he squinted at the excessive daylight, but he recognized the room where he was, and he immediately smiled. He was in Hannibal’s house, in his bedroom, in his bed. And the weight he felt on his back was most likely him. Will turned his head trying not to move his body, until he saw exactly what he had thought: Hannibal’s head was half on the pillow, half on the upper part of his back, and one of his arms was wrapped around Will’s waist.

Will dropped his head on the pillow again, and he took Hannibal’s hand in his, grazing his fingers along the shape of his knuckles.

Just then, Hannibal inhaled deeply through his nose, waking up, so Will smiled.

“Hmmm… Good morning,” Hannibal said from behind him.

Hannibal kissed him right between his shoulder blades, and Will’s skin prickled when he moved aside to let Will roll over. Once Will faced him, Hannibal put his head on his shoulder, draping his arm over his chest, and that time Will wrapped his arms around him too.

“Morning,” he finally said.

Will tipped his head to Hannibal, feeling the man’s hair against his cheek and sighing. He felt the sunlight warming his left side and he wondered what time it was, if they had slept well into the morning. He didn’t even remember the last time that had happened to him. His nights were usually plagued by nightmares, creeping into him from the darkest corners of his mind, and he was usually up the moment the sun started peeking out on the horizon.

But that night, he had slept without a single nightmare, and his smiled widened in his lips.

“Maybe it was a fortunate wound,” Will said then, his voice thick with sleep.

“Hmm?”

“You said that, in the hospital. You said I had been lucky.”

Hannibal adjusted his head so he could meet his eyes. The light that came through the window made Hannibal’s eyes look hazel, and his hair almost ashen.

“You didn’t seem to agree much at the time. Why the change of heart?”

“It brought us together, so… Maybe it _was_ a fortunate wound,” Will repeated.

Hannibal smiled warmly then, craning his neck and bringing their lips together. Will felt his body reacting to his touch, so he dragged his hand from Hannibal’s shoulder to his side. He rolled over him a little, and then he felt something against his thigh, so he broke the kiss with a grin.

“Oh… Good morning indeed,” he said, raising the sheets and pretending like he was surprised at what he found.

Hannibal gave him half a smile, and Will pushed him so he was lying on his back. He sat astride him, bending down to brush Hannibal’s lips with his own. After that, he crawled down and covered himself with the sheets again, properly greeting Hannibal in the morning.

****

Will had to retrace their steps the night before to retrieve his clothes from the hallway and the stairs, and then he got dressed in the same clothes while Hannibal put on pajama pants and a sweater, which made Will bite his lower lip when he came out of his walk-in closet.

“So this is how the good Dr. Lecter dresses on the weekends?” Will asked him, moving closer and running a hand up his arm to touch the soft fabric.

Hannibal smiled in reply, and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

They had breakfast in the kitchen, sitting on the stools at the counter isle. Hannibal made orange juice, coffee and toast with quail eggs and sausages. Everything was unlike anything Will had ever tasted before. The coffee was the strongest and best he had ever tried, the orange juice so sweet it didn’t even need sugar, and the toasts one of the tastiest breakfasts he probably would ever have.

Hannibal looked at him when he made his third obscene noise while eating the second sausage. Will looked up, feeling as if he had been caught, but Hannibal seemed pleased at his response, a smirk in his lips.

“I’ve been thinking about throwing a dinner party,” Hannibal said then, as he carefully sliced a quail egg.

“A dinner party? You mean with other people?” Will asked, and Hannibal smiled in return.

“Yes, usually more than two people are required for a dinner party.”

“So… you would invite your friends?” Will asked, staring at his breakfast.

Will had guessed that Hannibal was like him, a man with not many friends. But he could’ve been mistaken…

“More like acquaintances from the opera and the theater, and a few colleagues, perhaps,” he explained, and Will nodded. “I used to throw dinner parties quite regularly, but work hasn’t allowed me to do it in quite some time.”

“So what’s changed?” Will asked, looking up at him.

Hannibal took a sip from his cup of coffee, and he seemed to consider the question for the longest couple of seconds.

“Well, a few things. The first, I’ve been meaning to throw one for a long time. The second, my birthday is coming up in a few months, and this would be the perfect rehearsal for _that_ dinner party,” Hannibal said, and Will raised his eyebrows at that piece of information. “I usually don’t celebrate, but I figured it was about time to do so.”

“Your birthday?” Will asked, smiling. “When?”

“In about two months. The last reason for this dinner party” he continued before Will could interrupt him again, “is that I would very much like you to assist.”

Will had just taken a bite from his toast, and he was thankful for that, because that allowed him to take a little time to consider it.

“Before you say anything,” Hannibal said, probably guessing his thoughts. “I know by now that you are not keen on these kind of social events, so if you don’t want to come, that’s completely all right, Will. I don’t want you to feel obligated to do anything.”

Will smiled at his words, at how honest he sounded, and he nodded.

“Well, that may require me to be social, yes… But of course I’ll go, Hannibal. To both dinner parties. And we’ll have to properly celebrate that birthday alone, right?” he asked, hiding a smile behind his mug.

“I am sure we will,” Hannibal said.

When they finished eating breakfast, they cleared what they had used and put everything in the sink, and then Hannibal cornered him against the counter, both hands flat on the surface at Will’s sides. Will smiled when Hannibal leaned closer, but the kiss didn’t come. Instead, he brushed their lips together, making Will’s heart drum inside his chest.

“Will you stay for lunch and let me spoil you with another meal?” Hannibal asked him, tipping his head and brushing his lips over his jaw and towards his neck.

“Sure…” Will said, purring the word, but then he thought of something, and he pulled back. “No, shit, I can’t… My dogs,” he explained.

“I have to admit, I had forgotten about them,” Hannibal said, looking at him with a sly smile.

Will huffed out a laugh. “Never thought I’d say this, but for a second so did I,” he admitted. “I could… come tonight, though. Or if it’s too much of my company in such a little time, we could meet tomorrow.”

“Nonsense. I want to see you as much as you will allow me to.”

“You’ll end up changing your mind, I’m sure,” Will half-joked.

Hannibal hummed in disagreement, and Will smiled. And then he placed both hands on his chest.

“You know what? I think I _just_ realized what the catch is,” he said, and Hannibal tilted his head. “What I asked you last night, about what the catch is with you.”

“Oh, yes. Please, enlighten me,” Hannibal said in a playful tone.

“You are a pretentious ass,” Will said, furrowing his brow to pretend like he was completely serious, but a smirk tugged at his lips. “I mean, the suits, the Bentley, the drawings, the cooking… That should’ve been the key, but you saying that you have acquaintances from the opera and the theater... That _definitely_ did it.”

“Caught by my fine tastes,” Hannibal said, in a fake dramatic tone.

Will chuckled and Hannibal finally leaned in to kiss him, slowly moving his lips against his and sliding his hands up across Will’s back, pressing their chests together. They agreed to meet again that afternoon and then Will left, not before giving Hannibal another kiss in the threshold.

The dogs went crazy when he arrived home, and he apologized at least five times, even though they couldn’t have cared less now that he was there. He spent the rest of the morning doing his laundry, cleaning his house a bit and then he had a quick lunch and took a shower. When it was time to go again, he left plenty of food and water for Harry and Chloe, and then he went back to Hannibal’s. They spent as much time together as they could that Sunday, and Will thought nothing would be able to spoil his mood for a long time... But perhaps he was wrong.

****

The following week was crazy for both of them. Hannibal had shifts and surgeries scheduled almost every day, and Will was almost completely pulled out of his usual work. His sole focus became The Chesapeake Ripper’s case, even though there wasn’t much they could do without any evidence whatsoever. But still, they gave him access to the files of every one of his murders, and Will started studying them even when he got back to his house.

On Wednesday, Will woke up startled at the sound of his phone. He picked it up and tried to answer in full sentences.

“ _Graham, it’s Agent Davis_ ,” the caller said, and Will frowned, looking at the hour in his watch. “ _We got another body, I’m sending you the address_.”

Will noted that they hadn’t even asked him if he wanted to keep working the case, since technically it wasn’t his job. But he just hummed and got out of bed to get dressed before his cellphone vibrated with the received text.

When he arrived at the address, a white-fenced house in a residential area on the outskirts of Baltimore, he greeted the policemen that allowed him to go through the police tape. They weren’t from his precinct, but he still knew he had met them before, even if he didn’t remember their names.

The house was full of people, but Will went from one room to another until he was in an elegant dining room. The sliding doors were broad open, and the body was lying on a large table, which was completely set; a beautiful tablecloth, silverware, plates and glasses for at least eight people, unlit candles, two centerpieces with beautiful flowers… Everything looked as if the guests were about to be called for dinner. Everything, of course, except the body lying in the middle of the table: a woman dressed in a red dress. Will swallowed, baffled in the presence of so much beauty, even when it was in such dark circumstances.

“Good, you’re here. The victim’s Sarah Richards, 42,” Agent Cruz started telling him, turning around to face him. “She had her own catering firm. Apparently she was quite good, because she was booked solid for the next four months.”

“ _Someone_ didn’t like the work she did,” Agent Davis said with a huff, walking around the table without touching anything.

Will looked at him with a frown. The man was trying to joke, but it _was_ an interesting idea. Probably the only interesting thing the man had said since Will had met him.

“No signs of forced entry, so we’re not ruling out an acquaintance,” Agent Cruz continued.

“She lived alone?” Will asked.

“The husband was away on a business trip, he’s flying back right now. He was the one who called the police when she didn’t answer her phone. He called a neighbor, but obviously she didn’t answer the door, either. Oh, and they have a dog.”

That caught Will’s attention, and he turned to the agent. “Have?”

“Yes. The neighbors didn’t hear the dog barking, so we don’t know if the killer drugged him or if the dog was just not a very good guard, but he’s all right,” the woman said, and Will let out a relieved sigh. “He was locked in the kitchen when the police arrived, just waving his tail. Poor bastard.”

The two agents left of the room, closing the doors for him… and then Will closed his eyes, and his mind easily slipped away.

He knocked on the door, making sure nobody saw him. The woman wasn’t expecting him, but she knew him, so she invited him in reluctantly and Will went inside, pretending to be there on a visit. The dog was peacefully asleep on a little blanket; not very bright, that one, but he was thankful for it. The woman wasn’t very pleased with his visit, but she still offered him a drink so they could discuss what had brought him there. Business, but not the kind the woman thought. He grabbed her in the hallway, not wanting to prolong it, choking her with an arm and holding her head still with the other. The woman fought back, quite impressively for someone with her short physique. He tried to hold her still, but when he saw it would be more difficult than he originally thought, he adjusted his position and broke her neck. Her body went limp immediately, so he left her carefully on the floor and got to work. He started with the dining room, setting the table, paying attention to every last detail. Then he went to the woman’s dressing room, and he chose a beautiful dinner dress. When he went downstairs again, the dog raised his head, observing him. Will undressed the woman, put her on top of a plastic and took a part of her. When he sewed her back up, he dressed her again and placed her on top of the table… And then, he observed his work and closed his eyes, satisfied.

Will opened his eyes and blinked, adjusting to reality. He let the agents know he had finished, so they came back into the room.

“The missing organs?” he asked, while he ran a hand over his face.

“It seems like it’s the heart,” Agent Cruz said.

“Perhaps he wanted to tell us that she was a heartless woman?” Agent Davis said with half a smile on his lips, and both Will and the other agent frowned at him.

“The forensic team will confirm it for us once they take her to the lab,” Agent Cruz continued saying, ignoring his partner’s words.

Agent Davis walked to him then, and Will averted his eyes.

“Are you sure it’s him again…?” Davis asked.

“I’m sure.”

The man sighed, and he crossed his arms across his chest.

“Is this also a message? To... whoever he’s sending it?” he asked. “I mean, what could a serial killer like this want to say to anyone?”

“I think he wants to be recognized.”

The agents looked at him at the same time, and Will saw Agent Cruz frowning, interested.

“Recognized? Meaning he wants to get credit for his murders?” Davis asked.

Will shook his head, taking a step closer to the body. The woman had a hand facing upwards, with a pomegranate in her palm. It was a bit darker than the dress, but the display was impressive anyway.

“No, it’s not about that. He wants this person to understand him. It’s… a courtship.”

“As in… _romantic_ courtship?” Cruz asked, and Will turned to look at her.

“That’s a pomegranate, the fruit of death,” Will said, remembering the Hades and Persephone myth. When the agents stayed silent for a few seconds, he added: “Greek mythology?” he asked, but the agents just stared at him, so he pursed his lips. “In any way… I think this symbolizes the heart. He took hers, but left his, so to speak.”

They looked at each other, the man with a little frown, and then he sighed and turned to exit the room.

“I should’ve stayed in California, become a teacher and learn how to surf. But no, I wanted to be in the FBI, catch bad people…” he said while he went out.

The woman took a step towards Will, looking at the body in the middle of the room.

“This might be sort of good news,” she said. Will frowned, turned his head to her slowly. “If he’s trying to send a message to this person, to make them understand him... Maybe he’ll make a mistake. Maybe he’ll get reckless trying to get this person’s attention.”

Will looked at the body once again, and sighed. He doubted The Chesapeake Ripper would make a mistake, but he didn’t say anything. When he was studying the other crime scenes, he would never have said that this killer would seek someone’s understanding; that he even _needed_ it. And yet he was standing before what proved the contrary.

****

Will knocked twice on the door, but right as he drew his hand back to knock again, it opened and Hannibal appeared on the other side.

“Hey,” he said, taken by surprise.

“I was just about to go outside to wait for you,” Hannibal said, smiling at him.

Will grinned, and then he realized just how much he had missed Hannibal. It was Friday, and that week they had only been able to meet once for lunch, so Will had _really_ missed him. That’s why, when he appeared in front of him, Will couldn’t wait to lean in to kiss Hannibal, pushing him backwards with the movement and knocking the door against the wall.

When they pulled back, Will blushed a little, since they were half in his office and half in the hospital hallway, so he took a step back. But Hannibal offered him his hand, raising his eyebrows as if challenging him to take it in public. Will did so, biting his lower lip, and they started walking out hand in hand.

They ate in a not too formal restaurant, since Will had been unable to change out of his uniform once again. When Hannibal started telling him about a surgery he had performed the day before, Will couldn’t help but to let out a contented sigh, already comforted solely by his presence.

“Did you make any progress with the case?” Hannibal asked him after finishing his story, sipping from his glass of wine.

“Not really… I don’t know.”

“You still don’t know what he wants?”

Will looked at him across the table, and he wondered once again if Hannibal was really interested in the case, or if he just kept asking him questions to be polite. But the truth was, Will _liked_ talking to him about it, so he just leaned forwards in his chair, lowering his voice.

“I think he wants what everyone wants. To be seen, understood.”

Hannibal tilted his head.

“ _Seen_ …? By the person to whom he’s sending the messages?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Sounds like a serenade to me.”

Will watched him as the other cut a piece of his sirloin.

“Yes, that’s what I think too. Although I called it courtship,” he said, snorting out a laugh, and Hannibal smiled while he chewed his food.

“So you think this killer is capable of some sort of love?”

Will took the glass with soda he had ordered, since he had to get back to work, but he just held it, making it spin a little on the table.

“I’ve never seen a killer like him before, so… Yes? Maybe,” Will said, and then he shook his head. “I just wished _I_ could understand him. I feel like I’m so close but at the same time so far away…”

Will finally raised the glass and drank a big gulp from it. Hannibal leaned forwards, getting much closer.

“Is that what you want as well, Will?” Hannibal asked him after a few seconds.

“What?” he asked, looking up at him again.

“You said that this killer wants what everyone wants. Is that what you want, to be understood?”

Will held Hannibal’s gaze. For a second, he considered lying to him, but once again he felt drawn to the idea of sharing his thoughts with him, of opening his mind like a box and offering its contents to Hannibal.

“There have been some times when I would’ve said no… I didn’t think anyone could ever get close to me and not want to run away in the other direction.”

“And now…?”

Will thought about the past weeks, how much they had shared in such a little time, and how much he wanted to be with Hannibal every day that passed even if they had only met a month before. And how, even though Will had already shared some of his darkest secrets with him, it also seemed like Hannibal was not bothered by them, not by a long shot.

“Now I think I would like that.”

Hannibal gave him a little smile, and they took their glasses again, neither of them needing to say anything else.

Will walked Hannibal back to the hospital, and they ended up in his office again. He promised himself he would only kiss him goodbye and go back to work, but when Hannibal kissed him and slid his hands under Will’s uniform right above his duty belt, Will pushed him inside his office.

“I can’t stay long today,” Will said as Hannibal wrapped his arms around him and made him spin, pushing him to his desk.

“I know,” Hannibal said, but he slid his hands under his uniform once again, grazing the skin on his back and kissing his neck.

Will closed his eyes as a moan escaped his lips, and then he remembered something. He pushed Hannibal back with both hands and shifted his eyes to his neck. Right there, peeking out just above his collar was the hickey Will had left on him the night he had been at his house. Will smiled.

“I thought you would make it disappear,” he said, pulling the collar down and running his thumb over the darkened skin.

Hannibal grinned, tipping his head a little backwards at his touch.

“Of course not. I didn’t have any problem remembering you during my ER shifts, but it was a nice reminder every time I looked in the mirror.”

Will groaned, more than pleased at the thought of Hannibal seeing his mark every time he had looked at his reflection, and he leaned towards Will again. He roamed Will’s neck with his lips as he did the same with his hands on Will’s back under the uniform.

“I should go,” Will said, wishing he didn’t have to go to work that afternoon.

“Do you want me to stop?” Hannibal whispered against his skin. He pressed his tongue flat on the hollow of his neck, making Will shiver.

“God, no…”

Hannibal hummed, pleased, and Will chuckled while the other left a trail of kisses up to his jaw.

“I’m sorry, I think I’m a rather bad influence, am I not?” Hannibal asked, pulling back to meet his eyes.

“You _are_ a bad influence.”

Will wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled him closer to kiss him again, this time probably as a goodbye, but right when their lips touched someone knocked at the door that had been left ajar. Will pulled away as Hannibal moved backwards slowly, enough to leave a little space between them. But it was useless to try to hide what they had been doing, because the door was sufficiently open so that the nurse behind it had seen them.

“Yes?”

“Sorry to bother you, Dr. Lecter,” the nurse said, looking briefly at Will and right back at Hannibal, her cheeks turning to a bright red. “The files from the 403 patient.”

Will looked down, trying not to blush too and failing, while he was still leaned against the desk, almost sitting on it. Hannibal took the files, completely calm and composed, and Will wondered how on earth did he do it.

“All right, thank you, Rosa. I’m going to keep them.”

The nurse looked as relieved to be able to go as Will was that she was leaving. Once she went out, this time closing the door behind her, Will huffed out a laugh, running both hands over his face.

“I think I may be causing you to be the subject of gossip in the hospital…”

Hannibal chuckled and moved closer to him again, leaving the files on his desk, right on top of a perfectly organized stack of papers.

“As I told you, they have been talking since you were here in the hospital, so I think that’s way out of our control by now,” he said, and Will wrinkled his nose in an apologetic gesture. “But let them talk as much as they want.”

Hannibal kissed him again, that time uninterrupted, and Will gladly gave into his touch.

When Hannibal moved back, Will suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, I almost forgot…”

Will unzipped the jacket of his uniform and took an envelope from one of the inside pockets. He left it on top of the desk, and Hannibal looked at it with ill-concealed curiosity.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you open it?” Will asked, smiling already.

Hannibal pulled back and took the envelope. When he opened it and took out what was inside, Hannibal looked back at him, and Will felt his heart hammering inside his chest when the other didn’t react at first.

“It’s just… You know, you said your birthday was coming up in a couple of months, so I thought, I don’t know. As a gift. If you don’t like it or you don’t want to go I can return them… I think.”

Hannibal smiled a little, with the two tickets to the opera still in his hand.

“Why wouldn’t I want to go?”

“I don’t know, it’s just…” Will said, and then he took a step towards him, just to feel him closer. “You don’t seem too excited?”

“Believe me Will, I am. I’m just _very_ surprised.”

Will smiled then. “Oh. That’s good, I hope?”

“More than good,” he said, and he looked down a little. For a moment, Will thought that he looked overwhelmed, but it was the first time he had seen Hannibal like that. “I didn’t think you would like the opera,” he said, still examining the tickets.

“Well, I mean… I don’t hate it?”

“Have you ever been?” Hannibal asked him finally looking at him again.

“Once. It was okay, but I’m sure the company will be much better this time.”

Hannibal gave him a warm smile, and Will felt his heart skipping a beat.

“Will... I don’t think anybody has ever done something like this for me.”

“Getting you opera tickets for your birthday?” Will tried to joke, but the other remained serious.

“Not the physical gift in itself. The gesture.”

Will was about to tell him that it wasn’t _that_ much. He was the one who was doing everything nobody had ever done for Will before, but then Hannibal leaned in to kiss him, so he just wrapped his arms around Hannibal’s waist and forgot about everything else except the other man.

When he pulled back, Hannibal left the tickets on the desk, making sure they were perfectly aligned, and Will gave him half a smile.

“These are _really_ good tickets, Will. Even I haven’t been able to get tickets like these sometimes.”

“Yeah, I… know people,” Will said, shrugging a little, and Hannibal raised his eyebrows. “Well, okay, I know people that know people. Same thing.”

Hannibal shook his head while he leaned in, and Will smiled against his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal, keep your shit together, you almost cried for two opera tickets... xD
> 
> All right, I'm back!! :) _But_ there's a strong possibility that the next updates won't be weekly, but every two weeks, instead. I don't know for sure, though, but if you don't have an update next week, you know why it is.
> 
> Thanks once again for reading this story, everyone<333


	9. Chapter 9

After another week of seeing Hannibal only a few brief times, they decided to spend as much time as they could together that weekend, and they did for the most part of the Friday afternoon and Saturday. But of course, Will woke up on Sunday with a cold. He had spent most of the previous day in Hannibal’s house, but had returned home so the dogs wouldn’t be alone too much time, since they were already planning on seeing each other that day, too. But when he woke up and realized how bad he felt, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to get out of his house.

He had breakfast and took a couple of pills, but his head felt like it was about to float away from his body, and he kept coughing. He lit the fireplace and wrapped a blanket around himself while he opened the door so the dogs could get out by themselves. Then, he called Hannibal.

“ _Good morning_ ,” Hannibal greeted him cheerfully when he answered the call, and Will automatically smiled.

“Hey,” Will said, trying to conceal the cold, and failing immediately when a coughing fit betrayed him.

“ _Will, are you all right?_ ”

“I… am not, actually. That’s why I’m calling. I think I’ve caught a cold, so I don’t think I’m going to be able to meet you for lunch. Or dinner…” he said, and he let out a sigh. He had _really_ wanted to spend that day with Hannibal.

“ _I am very sorry to hear that,_ ” he said, and then he made a pause. “ _Would you… allow me to come there and bring you something to eat?_ ”

Will pursed his lips, considering his offer. Hannibal hadn’t been to his house yet apart from the time in which he had given him a ride from the hospital, and it was because Will simply hadn’t invited him. But the reason wasn’t that he didn’t want Hannibal there with him; it was that he was a little embarrassed about letting Hannibal come to his house. Will knew Hannibal probably would not mind about how different their houses were, but Will also knew he would be too polite to complain about the dog hair everywhere, or the general mess that his house was, since he was usually working and the time he spent there he just wasn’t in the mood for rearranging the bookshelves or finding a place for things that he still hadn’t unpacked since he had moved. Will had of course wanted Hannibal to come there at some point, but he looked down at his ugly pajama as he coughed again.

“I… don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t want to pass this on to you.”

“ _I have a very strong immune system_ ,” Hannibal said, and Will chuckled.

“Of course you do, I’ll just have to add that to the list.”

“ _Have you taken any medication yet?_ ” Hannibal asked him, and his voice suddenly changed, as if Will was his patient once again.

“Yes, _doctor_.”

Hannibal laughed at the other end of the line. “ _I apologize, bad habit. But since right now I_ am _your doctor, I’m going to hang up and I’ll come once I prepare something for you_.”

“But you are not my doctor, you referred me to another one so you could date me, remember?”

“ _Then I’m going to hang up as your partner. Is that better?”_

“I think so. Are you going to bring your white coat…?” Will asked, and right then he realized how bad his voice sounded. “Oh god, I’m actually trying to flirt with you in this voice. Yes, I think it’s a good moment for you to hang up.”

“ _I’ll see you very soon, Will. Keep yourself warm and drink liquids_.”

Will repressed the urge to say anything else and he hung up his phone. When he let the dogs in, he did as Hannibal had told him and took a pitcher full of water with him to the couch, where the fire and the blanket kept him warm enough, and he turned the TV on. After looking at the screen for a few minutes, he probably dozed off, because he only opened his eyes again when the dogs started barking at the door, waving their tails at the same time.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Will told them, standing up with difficulty and feeling a little light-headed as he staggered towards the dogs.

Will opened the door and squinted a little at the bright light, but he smiled at the sight of Hannibal in his threshold. He was dressed with slacks and a shirt, but no vest or suit jacket under his coat.

“You are _not_ wearing your white coat,” he said, faking disappointment.

“I apologize, I left all of them in the hospital,” he said, playing along.

Will let Hannibal in and sent the dogs to their beds so they didn’t bother their guest, even though he gave no indication of being annoyed by them. Hannibal left the bag he was carrying on the counter kitchen, and then he returned to Will and pressed his entire palm against his sweaty forehead without any warning.

“Oh, uhm. So you really meant it when you said you were coming as my doctor?” he half joked, and Hannibal smiled without looking at his eyes, focused on the task.

“I can be your doctor and your boyfriend at the same time.”

Will arched his eyebrows upwards and nodded in agreement, but he felt a tug in his stomach at the word. He closed his eyes a little and leaned into Hannibal’s cool hand, grateful for the contact.

“You have a low fever, nothing to worry about,” he announced, and Will opened his eyes again. Hannibal moved his hand from his forehead to his cheek, and Will smiled weakly. “You’ll feel better once you’ve eaten something.”

Hannibal gave him a warm smile, and leaned closer to him. As soon as Will realized that he meant to kiss him, he pulled backwards.

“I really don’t want you to catch what I have…”

Hannibal made him look up with a finger under his chin, and he wished that he weren’t sick in that moment, because the look Hannibal gave him made Will want to touch and kiss him more than anything.

“I think I’ll take my chances.”

That time, when Hannibal leaned in again to press his mouth into Will’s, he didn’t move back. He closed his eyes and felt light-headed again, his legs weak and the floor moving beneath him, so he circled Hannibal’s waist with his arms underneath his coat. The other wrapped an arm around his back, probably to hold the blanket, which had started to slip from Will’s shoulders. But Will did not care about that, because Hannibal was _so_ warm, smelled so good and felt so nice, that Will just wanted to lie on top of him and not move for at least three days. Will buried his face in the crook of his neck then, and he inhaled through his nose with his eyes still closed.

“You really didn’t have to come… but I’m really glad you did.”

“I’m glad I came, too,” he said.

They stayed like that for a while, in which Will only felt Hannibal’s heartbeats against his chest and his long fingers grazing his back over the blanket.

When they finally moved, Hannibal made Will sit at the table, and then he started setting it while Will told him where everything was, pointing at the cupboards or drawers in the small kitchen, wondering what would the man think about his house, used like he was to move around his own house. Then, Hannibal took a big container out of the bag he had brought with him, interrupting his thoughts.

“Silkie chicken in a broth,” he said, while he started serving it in two soup-bowls. “A black-boned bird prized in China for its medicinal values since the 7th century. Wolfberries, ginseng, ginger, red dates, and star anise.”

Hannibal went to him and put the bowls on the table, sitting in front of him. Will raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk on his lips.

“So you made me chicken soup?”

Hannibal looked up at him and froze, almost as if Will had slapped him.

“Yes.”

Will snorted a laugh. “Sorry, that was mean. Thanks a lot, really.”

Once they ate the chicken soup, which unsurprisingly was _really_ good and made Will feel better almost immediately, Hannibal made him take his medicines and then they moved to the couch. Hannibal rekindled the fire adding a couple of logs that he took from the shed beside Will’s house. When Hannibal finally sat beside him on the couch with an old movie on the TV, Will gestured to sit closer to him, but then stopped himself. He _really_ longed for his touch, but he also didn’t want to be all over him in the state he was. But Hannibal had a different idea, because he spread his left arm out and tugged at his blanket. Will smiled, and after the second tug he finally gave in, moving over and leaning against Hannibal’s side. He rested his head on his shoulder and sighed.

“I’m sorry that I ruined our plans for today…” he whispered, looking at the TV without really watching it.

“You didn’t ruin anything, Will. Besides, this allowed me to finally see the inside of your house. I was beginning to think you had something you didn’t want me to see here.”

Will smiled, feeling like his limbs weighed a ton under the blanket.

“I don’t have a dead body here if that’s what you were worried about.”

“ _Here_?” Hannibal asked, and Will chuckled despite the morbid nature of the joke, but then he felt a little guilty about not having invited Hannibal to his house until that moment.

“It’s not that I didn’t want you to come, you know? It’s just… I was a little embarrassed.”

“Why would you be? It’s a nice, charming house.”

“Yeah, and it’s _nothing_ like your house.”

Will felt Hannibal’s fingers sliding among his curls in a gentle touch.

“It doesn’t need to be like my house, Will. I feel as aesthetically pleased here as I do in my home.”

“Is it the wall’s color?” Will joked as Hannibal drew a circle on the crown of Will’s head with his fingers.

“Maybe it’s the table with your fishing lures. Which, speaking of, you told me that it was a hobby, but not that you took the activity to the extent of making your own lures.”

“Perhaps I downplayed it a bit…” Will said, smiling as he remembered that he had only mentioned it when he was in the hospital. “I didn’t lie when I said I’m pretty good at it, though.”

“Good to know,” Hannibal said, and then he adjusted his posture on the couch, making Will move even closer to him.

“Maybe you like the aesthetics of my house because of the dogs figurines,” Will said, following their previous subject. He felt Hannibal moving a little, probably looking at the mentioned figurines in the bookshelves.

“I’m going to venture a guess and say that those might not be it,” Hannibal said, and Will chuckled again. “Maybe it’s just you. Your presence.”

Will fell silent then, not sure of what to say. He swallowed twice before speaking again.

“You know, I may regret this tomorrow, since I’m only feeling about sixty percent like myself, but… You are nothing like I expected you to be.”

“In what way?” Hannibal asked, turning his head a little, probably to look down at him.

“In _any_ way…”

“What _did_ you expect when you asked me out?”

Will smiled. In normal circumstances, he would’ve blushed at remembering that moment.

“I expected you to be a little interesting, since you had already proved that you were in the hospital,” he said, being honest with him. “And I expected to have fun with you, and then… Then I thought you’d probably run away as soon as you started to _really_ get to know me.”

“Is that how your relationships ended in the past?”

Will shrugged a little. “Most of the times they didn’t last long enough for me to find out. Or for the other person to get to know me that well…”

Hannibal remained silent, and Will let his head go up and down at the rhythm of his peaceful breathing, feeling the man’s steady heartbeats on his cheek.

“Would you believe me if I told you I also found in you something much more than I originally predicted…?”

“I bet you expected a fine policeman with strong morals and better fashion sense, didn’t you?”

“You’ve read my mind,” Hannibal joked.

Will smiled and closed his eyes, the movie on the TV completely forgotten. Will nuzzled Hannibal’s chest a little, feeling his hazy mind slipping into the limbo between consciousness and the complete and blissful darkness.

“I think I like you a lot, Hannibal…” he whispered into the fabric of his shirt.

“I think I like you a lot too, Will.”

He fell asleep too quickly with a smile on his lips.

He spent the entire afternoon dozing off, and the times in which he woke up again, he saw Hannibal looking at the TV, reading one of Will’s books or just caressing his hair with his long, gentle fingers. All the times Will woke up on top of Hannibal, and despite his protests to lie down in the other side of the couch as to not bother him anymore, the other made him lie back down on top of him once again.

At one point, Hannibal woke him up, shaking him carefully to tell him he had to eat and take more pills, though not without checking his fever first. Will then went to the bathroom, shaking a little - even with the blanket around him - at the sudden lack of another body beside his. While he was gone, Hannibal had prepared for them two new bowls with soup, and Will ate while he fought not to drop his head in it.

“I think you should go to bed, have a good night’s sleep,” Hannibal told him while he cleared the table. “Tomorrow you should feel much better, although I wouldn’t suggest going to work.”

Will hummed his agreement, thinking he probably wouldn’t be of much use to them if he was still like this in the morning. Will got up, and when he walked into his bedroom with Hannibal beside him, he suddenly realized something.

“Are you… staying?” Will asked as he sat on the edge of the bed, the blanket still around his shoulders.

Hannibal knelt before him and gave him a little smile as he took Will’s shoes off. His chest tightened a little at the gesture, but decided not to say anything.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“Do you have work tomorrow?” Will asked as Hannibal took the other shoe off.

“I do,” he said, and then he looked up, still kneeling on the floor. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”

“In that case no… You would have to wake up really early to go to Baltimore. And besides, if you sleep here you’ll definitely catch what I have…”

“Will,” Hannibal said, touching his knee with a hand. “Do you _want_ me to stay?”

Will licked his lips and swallowed, his throat sore.

“I… Yes, I would like that. But seriously-”

“Then I’ll stay.”

Hannibal stood up, and he grabbed the blanket’s edges, so Will gave it to him. He hugged himself at the sudden cold, but Hannibal was quickly back to help him get under the sheets.

“I don’t want you to feel obligated…” Will said as Hannibal covered and tucked him in.

Hannibal crouched beside him so they were eye to eye, and he gave Will a little smile as he brushed back his curls once again.

“I don’t feel obligated, Will. I promise.”

“Okay… Although you have to know, I don’t think I’m up for anything sexier than holding hands under the covers,” he joked, and that elicited a grin out of Hannibal.

The other man went into Will’s bathroom, and when he came back out, Will saw him moving around the bedroom out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t have the strength to raise his head to look at him. When Hannibal turned off the lights and went under the sheets, he draped an arm over Will’s waist and Will noticed he had taken his clothes off except for his underwear.

“I would offer you pajamas, but I’m not sure they would fit,” Will whispered, curling up against the other’s chest.

“Don’t worry, I think I will manage,” he said, and Will could feel the smile in his words.

Will fell asleep wrapped in Hannibal’s warmth even before he could answer him.

****

Hannibal left early in the morning. Will heard him get up, and in the fog that was his mind between the cold and the sleep, he felt him come back a few minutes later and press a kiss on his forehead. When he woke up for real a couple of hours later, he first called the station to let them know that he wasn’t going to be able to go. He felt much more clear-headed, but he was still weak and sick. Then, he called Hannibal after checking the hour, guessing he would already be at the hospital.

“ _Good morning, Will_ ,” Hannibal said when he picked up. “ _How are you?_ ”

“Morning. Not completely recovered, but I’m definitely better,” Will sat up in the bed and leaned his back against the headboard. “ _Please_ , tell me that you’re fine and I haven’t passed this on to you.”

“ _I’m feeling fine, Will, don’t worry_.”

Will sighed and smiled. “Good, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself if I had repaid how good you were yesterday by giving you a cold.”

“ _A cold wouldn’t be the most rude payment someone has given me after receiving my care, believe me_.”

Will laughed against the cellphone, wondering exactly what story Hannibal had in mind.

“ _I was planning to go see you after my morning shift, but an emergency surgery was just scheduled for this afternoon, so I don’t think I can make it_.”

“Hannibal, it’s okay, seriously. The only thing I want is to get better and be able to see you outside of my germ-infested house…”

“ _I very much want that, too. We’ll make up for it the next weekend._ ”

“Of course, I can’t wait…”

Will let himself slide down on the bed until he was resting his head on the pillow again, and sighed.

“ _Is there anything else I could do for you, Will?_ ”

“Well, you could tell the Chesapeake Ripper not to kill for a couple of days until I’m fully recovered…” he joked, and he heard Hannibal huffing out in a low laugh. “Don’t worry, you’ve done more than enough, really. Thanks again for coming yesterday.”

“ _It was my pleasure, Will_ ,” he said, and then he made a pause and Will heard the rustle of papers, which meant he probably was working in his office. “ _I must go now, but I’ll call you later to see how you’re doing. And remember_ -”

“I’ll take the pills and drink lots of water, _doctor_.”

Hannibal cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, he did it lowering his voice.

“ _Will. I don’t think you’re aware of how your voice sounds every time you call me that, are you?_ ”

Will covered his face with his free hand and bit his lower lip, blushing even if Hannibal wasn’t even there.

“Maybe I do it on purpose,” he said, even though it was a lie. He only did it on purpose sometimes.

“ _Well, we’ll just have to do something about that once you’re recovered…_ ”

“Hannibal, god…”

Hannibal chuckled, probably pleased with himself, and Will let out a long breath, cursing his state once again.

“ _I’ll talk to you later, Will._ ”

“Sure. Goodbye, Hannibal.”

When he hung up, he swallowed and rolled over on the mattress, burying his face in the cool side of the pillow while Harry got up from the bed, waving his tail and demanding attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hannibal being Will's ~doctor again! :P
> 
> Don't worry about the lack of smut in these chapters, because I assure you, the next ones will be... much more filthy... ;)
> 
> Once again, thanks a lot for the support, your comments, tweets... everything♥


	10. Chapter 10

The moment Will walked into the Police Chief’s office, he knew what he was about to hear. But still, Will waited patiently until the man finished talking with Agent Cruz about something else in hushed murmurs, and then they both turned to him. Chief Wells got up from the chair behind the desk with a grunt elicited by an old injury in his knee that had pulled him out of the field, but not out of the force.

“Graham, I’m glad you’re recovered,” he said, and Will nodded, even if he knew his words were merely a polite statement; the man hadn’t even cared that he had been a couple of days in his house, unable to go to work because of the cold. “Nevertheless… I think the moment for you to retire has come,” he finally said, and Will swallowed hard. _Retire_ was a nice euphemism. “We agreed on waiting a few weeks, and I think it’s the right time.”

Will looked down for a moment, and he nodded again.

“Of course, sir,” he said, taking his badge and gun with slow but firm movements.

He approached the desk and left them on top of it, and he stepped backwards again.

“Could I have the office now?” Agent Cruz asked the Chief then, and the older man sighed.

“Sure, why not. Take my office, take my people,” he said, and he walked by Will with a frown. “Anything the damn FBI wants…”

When the door closed behind him, Agent Cruz crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the desk in front of him, almost sitting on top of it.

“There’s something else,” the agent said, and he looked up. For a second, his eyes met the woman’s, but he quickly shifted them. “We’d like you to work for the FBI, since you’ve already been pretty much working with us. Right now we have The Chesapeake Ripper’s case, but there are other cases in which your help would be invaluable. You could make the difference between catching the killers or not.”

Will wanted to snort a laugh in that moment, but instead, he pulled his lower lip between his teeth and bit it before looking up again.

“I know you already turned a similar offer down, so if you don’t feel comfortable committing in the long term, we can make it temporary, see how you do. If you don’t like how it’s going, you’ll have your place at the university waiting for you. You could even teach some classes while you work on the cases, if that’s what you want.”

Will finally smiled sadly.

“And what would my occupation be, exactly?”

“Officially, Consultant Criminal Profiler.”

“And unofficially…?” Will asked, raising both eyebrows.

“Unofficially, Special Agent.”

“Special Agent, sure…”

He sighed and closed his eyes, knowing this was the moment he had been delaying for far too long. He had been offered that position before and turned it down. But at least in that moment he was working with an agent he actually could stand. The woman’s partner was something else, but one person he could stand was far better than none.

“All right,” he finally said after a pause.

“Is that… is that a yes, Mr. Graham?” the woman asked.

He looked up again and nodded. “It’s a yes. Temporarily, as you said.”

“Of course, temporarily,” she agreed, and then she moved away from the desk and towards him. “Come tomorrow to Quantico, and we’ll formalize it. Welcome to the FBI, Mr. Graham.”

He looked down to the hand the agent was offering him, and after a second he finally shook it, keeping his face straight.

It felt like he was making a deal with the devil.

****

As soon as the door opened, Will dashed into the house and walked straight through the living room, the hallway, and towards the library while he took his coat off on the way. When he walked in, he threw it on the back of the nearest chair, and started pacing in the space between the piano and the table with Hannibal’s drawings, now perfectly arranged in equal and aligned piles.

“I figured over the phone that you had had a hard day at work... That bad?” Hannibal asked him from the door.

Will ran both hands over his face and into his hair, and he let out a long sigh that made him tremble and didn’t ease the anxiety tightening his chest.

“I’m not a police officer anymore.”

He stopped the pacing, and he was _suddenly_ aware of his own words after saying them out loud. He reached out his hand backwards and found the back of the couch, so he leaned against it.

Will heard Hannibal’s measured steps before he appeared in his field vision, and when he looked up, he was standing right before him. When Hannibal took the last step towards him and raised his arms, Will just let him wrap him in a hug, and he gave into the contact, burying his face in his chest while the other man caressed his hair in a gentle and reassuring touch. He had wanted to do that so much all day…

“You knew this day would come since you were at the hospital. It’s not only that, is it?” Hannibal guessed, and Will huffed a laugh.

“I’m also working for the FBI now…”

Hannibal pulled back to meet his eyes, and Will finally did so unwittingly. Looking at Hannibal’s eyes had become easy for Will, as easy as it was hard for him to look into anybody else’s. But still, in that moment it was harder than ever, because Hannibal knew how to read him too well. And that meant Will was completely exposed before him.

“I thought you didn’t want that.”

“I don’t… And at the same time, I do.”

“Because you get to save lives,” Hannibal guessed, and Will nodded, even though it hadn’t been a question. “I support whatever decision you make, Will…”

“But?”

“Being completely selfish, I hope you pull out from the job the moment you think it is affecting you negatively. But something tells me you will put the lives of others ahead of your own wellbeing and psyche.”

Will frowned, because that sounded exactly like something he would do. Something he had already done in the past, losing himself a little too much in a case, letting it go deeper into his skin than it should.

“You can be my paddle, then… To pull me back into the shore if you see me drowning,” he said, hoping it wouldn’t sound as awful as it did in his head.

“That’s a deal. If you promise to tell me anything that troubles you so I can help you.”

“All right…” Will said, nodding.

Hannibal grazed his cheek with his thumb, and then he kissed him on the lips in a chaste kiss before pulling completely away. Will felt the tight ball of anxiety that had accompanied since he had left the chief’s office loosening a little.

“We can keep talking about this later if you want, but right now, why don’t you wash up? Dinner is almost ready.”

Will thanked him silently for the change of subject, and he nodded before Hannibal went out of the room and into the kitchen.

He had gone from the station to his house to let the dogs out and feed them, and then he had talked with Beverly over the phone, since she had been out patrolling the streets when he had been in the station. But apart from that, he had spent every minute waiting for the hour of his dinner with Hannibal to come, since they had both been able to meet that night. And now that he was there, he felt already so much better, soothed by Hannibal’s contact and words. Will had no idea how the man did it…

The dinner consisted of several dishes of shellfish, some of which Will had never even heard of before. Will watched as Hannibal presented them and explained where each thing was from or in which century people had started commercializing and eating them. Will just smiled, not sure that he would retain the information, but interested nonetheless in anything the man wanted to tell him.

“I don’t know how you do all this, but this is delicious,” he said, taking a steamed mussel with spicy sauce.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“What I don’t know is, what are you going to save for the dinner parties? Is this your version of heating up leftovers?”

Hannibal grinned while he refilled Will’s glass of white wine.

“I’m afraid that that, dear Will, is a secret I can’t share yet. It would spoil the surprise.”

Will held his gaze while they both took their glasses, and he felt a warm feeling pooling in his stomach once again, as he always did when he was with Hannibal.

When they finished dinner and cleared the table, Will took two glasses and the whiskey from a drawer in the library, and he was pouring it when the other reappeared with the dessert.

“Crème Brûlée,” he announced, leaving the two individual cups on the table.

The dessert was _literally_ on fire, so Will raised an eyebrow and looked at Hannibal.

“Now you’re just bragging…”

Hannibal smiled, sitting beside Will and taking his glass of whiskey. Will wasn’t sure if Hannibal was only drinking it because he knew Will drank, or because he actually liked it. But whatever the reason was, he saw him sipping the liquor, the skin around his jaw tightening, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his neck when he swallowed, and Will shifted his eyes to the dessert, clearing his throat and feeling again that warm feeling in his stomach, but this time sliding lower and lower.

They ate the amazing dessert once the flames went away, and Will couldn’t stop glancing at Hannibal, eating the dessert a little too quickly to enjoy it how it truly deserved. When he left the empty cup on the table, he took his whiskey and took a larger sip from it, and Hannibal looked at him frowning a little.

“Something wrong with the Crème?” he asked, finishing his own with the last spoonful.

“Not at all. I’m just…” Will chuckled, trying to think of the best way to tell him what he wanted, what he _needed_.

He took Hannibal’s finished cup of the dessert from his hands and left it beside his own, and then he leaned towards his lips. It took Hannibal by surprise at first, and Will used that to push him against the couch, cornering him with a hand on the armrest as he moved the other to his cheek.

The previous week they had been together, but between Will’s cold and their work, they hadn’t been able to do much more, and he felt the hunger clawing inside him.

Will pulled back to meet Hannibal’s eyes and see if he was on the same page as him.

“Sorry for being too eager, it’s just… I’ve missed you. I mean, I know we saw each other this weekend, but. I _want_ you.”

Hannibal put his thumb on Will’s lips as if to quiet him, but he quickly let it slide down, taking his chin and raising his head a little, since his eyes had drifted to his shoulder.

“Tell me you brought clothes to stay here tonight,” he said, and Will chuckled.

“I… did. They’re in my car.”

“Good.”

Hannibal grinned and wrapped an arm around him, and then _he_ pulled Will closer while he kissed him, so Will spread his legs to straddle him. That kiss was much better than the first, and equally hungry from both of them, Hannibal parting Will’s lips with his tongue while his hands travelled across his back until they reached Will’s ass, to which he answered by rocking his hips. When he felt Hannibal’s already half-hard erection against his own, even with the layers of clothes between them, he gripped Hannibal’s hair as a moan escaped from his lips and his body was set completely alight.

Hannibal started kissing his neck, descending to his collarbone and lower. Will bent his head backwards while Hannibal started unbuttoning his shirt, baring his throat while he groaned, impatient to feel the man’s fingers on him, but not wanting to hurry it. When he undid the last button, Will thought he would take the shirt off, but instead he just opened it and left it at Will’s sides. Hannibal then slid his hands over his waist as his lips grazed his chest, leaving a trail of wet kisses all the way to the hollow of his throat. Will arched his back against him because it felt _so_ good, his lips and tongue so hot. When he returned to his lips, Will repeated the movement of his hips to feel the friction, and that time Hannibal groaned against his mouth, too.

Will wanted to take off their clothes, he _needed_ to feel Hannibal without any layer between them, but that also felt too good, his heart hammering inside his chest and his breath coming out in soft gasps as Hannibal kissed and licked every inch that he could of his chest, his hands holding him and anchoring him to him and to that moment.

Hannibal then pressed his tongue flat on his nipple, and Will’s gasps became a louder moan when the man licked and nibbled at it before pulling back and looking at him through heavy lidded eyes.

“I have something to show you,” Hannibal said, and Will chuckled, out of breath.

“I’ve already seen all of you, but if you want to give it a little mystery…”

Hannibal pushed him a little, and Will let himself fall onto the couch. He groaned at the lack of contact and grabbed Hannibal’s shirt, still unopened.

“Not _that_ ,” Hannibal said with a grin.

He got up from the couch in a lithe movement and Will bit his lower lip, looking at his own obscene posture, sprawled on the couch, his erection tenting his pants. He sat up a little, taking his shirt completely off and resting his back against the armrest, while he saw Hannibal going out of the library and to the hallway. When he returned, Will raised his eyebrows at what he had in his hand, not entirely convinced he was seeing what he thought he was seeing…

“I don’t think you were completely serious about it, but… I brought one from work.”

Hannibal _did_ have one of his white coats in a hand, and a smirk on his lips. Will would’ve blushed in that moment if he weren’t already flushed because of how turned on he was.

“Oh… my god,” he said, and he pulled his lower lip inward to trap it between his teeth, a shiver running down his spine.

In the few relationships he had had, Will had never even been interested in role playing or anything similar in bed. He already lived his life trying to stop his mind from slipping into others’. But the fact that Hannibal had thought about it while he was at work, was more than enough to have Will fired up. And besides, it was _Hannibal_. In a doctor’s coat.

“Do you want me to put it on?” Hannibal asked, starting to put it on top of his clothes.

“No! I mean… Not like that. Can you. Uhm. Take off your shirt?”

Hannibal’s smile broadened and he went towards him, stopping right behind the couch and leaving the white coat on the back of it. His hands travelled to the shirt’s buttons, but Will then had a better idea. He sat on his heels in front of him, still on the couch, their bodies only separated by the back of it, and he touched the man’s wrists. Hannibal’s hands stopped moving when he understood what he wanted, and then Will started unbuttoning his shirt, taking as much time as he could with each of them, not wanting to rush the moment, even though his body had other plans. When he undid the last one, he looked up at Hannibal, who was observing him with his lips parted and the same hunger that Will felt reflected in his eyes. Will raised a hand then, pressing his fingers on his chest. He started dragging his fingertips down the man’s torso, feeling the hair in his chest beneath his palm, every inch of skin under his fingers moving with Hannibal’s ragged breathing. When Will got to his belt, he looked up at his eyes.

“ _Now_ put it on,” Will said in a low voice.

Hannibal obeyed him, taking the white coat from where he had left it and sliding it up his shoulders. Will bit his lower lip again at the sight of Hannibal dressed in the doctor’s coat with nothing beneath it on his upper body. He grabbed the coat’s lapels and pulled him downwards, making Hannibal bend over, and Will moved up, bringing their faces closer… But he didn’t kiss him. Will let his lips linger over the other’s, their breaths merging in the short space between them, and he gripped the lapels of the white coat tighter, but he didn’t close the remaining space.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, or minutes even. Will could feel the tension between them, and he wished he could freeze that moment forever, that exact moment with Hannibal so close to him that it was the only thing he could see, his intoxicating scent filling Will’s lungs, the warmth radiating from his body and being the only thing Will wanted to feel ever again…

But Will couldn’t stay still any longer, he couldn’t bear the distance anymore, so he finally moved.

First he licked at Hannibal’s lips, merely a brush from the lower to the upper one, but enough to make Hannibal react with a soft gasp that crashed against Will’s mouth. Will left the coat’s lapels to slide his hands between the fabric and the skin, and onto Hannibal’s sides, feeling the ridges of his ribs under his fingertips. Then, very slowly, he nibbled at his bottom lip, pulling a little at it without hurting Hannibal. And finally, as he wrapped both arms around his back under the coat, he kissed him. Lips sealed at first, opening them immediately to him, and welcoming back Hannibal’s tongue with a low moan when he pushed Will backwards with their merged mouths. Hannibal somehow managed to go over the back of the couch without breaking the kiss, and Will tried to help him but ended up pulling the man towards him, eager to touch him, to feel him. Will lay down on his back with Hannibal on top of him, and when Hannibal rippled his body against Will’s and their erections made contact again, Will dropped his head backwards, trying to muffle a whimper and failing.

Hannibal then started kissing his chest and going down, lower with every new touch, but when he took his belt, Will groaned and grabbed his wrists to stop him. He sat up with a grin on his lips before the confused gaze of Hannibal, but he understood him quickly when Will started changing their positions, pushing him to the other side of the couch and sitting astride on him. Still with both of his wrists grabbed, Will pinned Hannibal’s arms above his head, and then he bent over, their faces very close.

“I want to go first,” Will said.

“Greedy,” Hannibal whispered, craning his neck towards him but not doing anything to get Will off of him.

Will smiled and he kissed him again, slowly tasting his mouth. He nibbled at his chin and drew a line of kisses downwards, feeling Hannibal’s low rumble in his throat, biting at the stubble that covered his jaw and licking at the hollow of his neck, and continuing down. When he got to his chest, he had to leave his wrists, but even once he released him, Hannibal stayed still.

Will had to pull back a little to admire the sight before him; Hannibal splayed out on the couch, arms over his head, throat completely bared to him but maintaining the eye contact, the open white coat wrinkled at his sides and beneath him, the composure he usually wore like a second suit, completely shattered… Hannibal was absolutely subdued to him, and in that moment, Will wondered if the man would do anything he asked him to. And as strange a thought as it was, it turned him on even more if it was possible.

Will sat on Hannibal’s legs to work on his belt then, unable to wait anymore. Once he unbuttoned that and his pants, he got off of Hannibal for a moment to pull the clothes down. Hannibal shifted his hips up to help him without moving his arms at all, and Will threw them on the floor, where his shirt had ended up. Will took his own pants off too, and when he got back on the couch and over Hannibal, only his boxers remained.

With Hannibal naked and the patience Will had had before now gone, he went straight to the man’s cock, grabbing it with a hand. Will heard Hannibal’s low grumble coming out of his throat, and the man dropped his head backwards again. That only encouraged Will, so he gripped Hannibal’s hip with his free hand, and after giving him a last look, Will finally sank down between his thighs. He licked up the underside of his cock before wrapping his lips around his head, and he had to stop himself from moaning when he tasted his precome. Will closed his eyes, because the scent and the taste of Hannibal in his mouth was heady, and then he started sucking in earnest, taking him in inch by inch, tasting his own limits.

“Will…”

The name on Hannibal’s lips made Will sink his fingers deeper into his skin as he pulled his cock farther into his mouth. This time, Will wasn’t planning on stopping or making it quick. This time, he wanted to make Hannibal squirm with pleasure, and judging by the sounds coming out of his throat, Will apparently was on the right path.

Will pulled back for a moment to rest, hollowing his cheeks and making a deliberate slurping noise when his mouth left Hannibal’s cock. He lapped at the precome again, and kept massaging him with his hand while he looked up at him, and grinned at seeing Hannibal’s chest go up and down with his heavy breathing.

When Will swallowed him down again, Hannibal exhaled a breath and arched his back a little as Will tightened his lips and drew circles with his tongue. Hannibal came shortly after in a loud moan, still inside Will’s mouth, and he swallowed every last drop of him that he could before pulling back.

Will loosened his hold on Hannibal’s hip, wondering if he would leave a bruise as Hannibal had done with him the first night they had spent together, but in that moment he was more focused on crawling over Hannibal. Will stopped on all fours above him, watching as Hannibal, still open-mouthed and out of breath, returned his gaze through heavy-lidded eyes. He still had both arms over his head, and Will bit his lower lip as he bent down to press a light kiss in the place where jaw and neck met, nuzzling right under his ear.

“If I had known this would be the outcome… I would’ve brought the white coat much sooner,” Hannibal said in between breaths.

Will chuckled, but pulled back to meet his gaze. “Believe me, it was _not_ just the white coat. But it was a nice bonus.”

Hannibal finally lowered his arms, and he sat up a little, resting his weigh on his elbows.

“If only you could keep one of your police uniforms…” Hannibal purred, playful.

Will smiled, brushing his nose against Hannibal’s. “Actually… they haven’t asked for it yet. So I still have it at home.”

Hannibal raised his eyebrows, and when he let his gaze fall upon Will’s lips for a second, he knew exactly what the man was thinking.

“In that case, I think we should make use of it before they decide to retrieve it…”

They kissed, and when the other rolled over until Will was lying on his back, Hannibal gave him a wolfish smile before crawling down over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... yep. Will isn't officially a cop anymore! But don't worry, the kink is still there ;). AND finally, the "doctor kink" made its appearance... Even more, I mean hahah.
> 
> Also, I have a [Spotify playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/kate_angel/playlist/5Lde56Ol8mKK0cbJZF72pY) for the songs I'm using to write this. Since I don't think I'll upload it on 8tracks, considering the changes they did, you have it there in case you're interested ^^


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is probably one of the "filthiest" things I've written, so... check the new tags I added. Or if you prefer the surprise, then don't! ;)
> 
> Also, there's a change of POV in this chapter. I hope it's not too confusing!
> 
> Finally, I hope you enjoy it! :)

Will left the office they had assigned to him so he could review the Chesapeake Ripper’s files in relative peace, and he was looking down at his phone, reading once again a text Agent Cruz had sent him, when he crashed into someone else. He pulled back, torn between apologizing or glaring, but when he recognized the other person, he frowned, confused, and then smiled immediately.

“Bev?”

“Hey!”

His former co-worker came to him with her arms spread, and he gladly gave her a hug.

“What are you doing here?” he asked when they moved back, and Beverly raised an eyebrow, to which Will chuckled. “I mean, I’m _obviously_ glad to see you, but…”

“Well, you don’t call, you don’t write… I had to come stalk you,” she said, and Will laughed.

It had been more than a week since he had officially stopped working for the police department and started working for the FBI, and ever since that had happened, he almost hadn’t had time to talk to her even over the phone. He had spent the entire weekend with Hannibal, and on Monday, the Ripper had left them a new body. It was almost like he was being polite, not wanting to interrupt their time off work. Will had nearly snorted a laugh when he thought that in the middle of the crime scene, but managed to swallow it before Agent Cruz and Davis started to think he was losing his mind.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve been pretty busy.”

“Your friend the Ripper, or your friend the _Doctor_ …?” she asked, grinning.

Will pursed his lips trying to fight the foolish smile that her mention automatically elicited. But Beverly saw it anyway, and she made a teasing ‘ah’ sound. Will had told her about Hannibal in the many text messages they had exchanged after she had relentlessly asked him about it, but always vaguely, which had her always asking for more.

“Actually, both.”

“Well, you still owe me details, Graham. About your boyfriend, not the Ripper. Although I wouldn’t oppose to those, either…” she said, shrugging.

Will chuckled again, nodding.

“We’ll meet soon, I promise. But I can’t share details about the Ripper, I’m afraid. Ongoing investigation and everything…”

“Well, look who’s a big, important Agent now, huh?” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “But luckily for you, the reason why I’m here is… You might be able to share those details with me very soon.”

Will narrowed his eyes, and Beverly’s smile widened.

“What?” he asked, a smile tugging at his lips in anticipation.

“Well… While you were out playing doctor,” she said, and Will rolled his eyes, “I had a couple of meetings with Silvia.”  
“You mean Agent Cruz?” he asked, surprised at her use of the woman’s first name, which he wasn’t even comfortable using yet.

“The very same. Turns out, she found out I was only a year from graduating in forensics science, and since I have more than enough experience in law enforcement, she asked me to come over for an interview.”

Someone walked down the hallway towards them, and they both moved away to let the man pass. Once he had disappeared, Will turned to Beverly again, eager to know more.

“And? Did you already have the interview?”

“I did…” she said, half a smile curving her lips up.

“So are you going to tell me how it went, or are you going to make me beg you?”

Beverly looked up as if considering the latter option, to which Will answered by turning around as though he were going to walk away.

“All right, all right… They want me! I’m going to finish my last year in the university and meanwhile I can work as an intern in the lab.”

“Bev that’s… That’s amazing!”

“I know!” she said, a giant smile taking over her features. “And that means that your little trick to get rid of me won’t work, I’m sorry.”

Will shrugged as if to say that he couldn’t do anything about it and they both laughed.

After he said goodbye to Beverly and saw her disappear through the hallways, he turned his attention back to his phone, reading again the number of the office Agent Cruz had summoned him to. He found it after navigating through the hallways that still looked new to him, and then he sighed in front of the door, forcing his mind to focus back on the Ripper’s case before knocking twice.

****

Hannibal cleaned his hands on the rag hanging from his waist and went to the opposite counter to pick up his ringing cellphone. A fond smile crept onto his lips when he saw the name on the screen.

“Will,” he said when he picked up the call.

“ _Hey, uhm… I’m afraid I have bad news_ ,” Will’s voice greeted him on the other line. Hannibal tipped his head a little.

“Something happened at work?” he asked, honestly surprised. He knew it couldn’t be the Ripper’s case, but perhaps something else had come up, ruining their plans for that Friday night.

“ _No, not exactly… I just arrived home, and the power’s out_.”

Will sighed audibly, and Hannibal heard the unmistakable sound of a match being lit. The corner of Hannibal’s lips curved upward at the notion that Will had called him as soon as he had arrived.

“ _I could… come to your house_ ,” Will proposed, a slight hint of insecurity tainting his voice, as if he was expecting Hannibal to admit that he didn’t want to see him.

“You could. But actually, the lack of power in your house doesn’t have to be a hindrance for us.”

“ _Oh? How’s that?_ ” he asked, curiosity taking over his voice.

“Well, I was thinking about making a dish that doesn’t require heat. I was going to bring the ingredients to your house so we could prepare it together, but given that we won’t have much light, I can simply make it here and then bring it.”

Will chuckled then, and Hannibal closed his eyes, letting his laugh fill his ears.

“ _All right, then. It’s going to be an imposed candlelight dinner_.”

“Very romantic,” Hannibal joked.

“ _I hope it is romantic, and not a disaster_.”

“I’m sure it won’t be. I’m going to finish preparing the dish, Will.”

“ _Sure. See you in a bit, then._ ”

Hannibal left his cellphone on top of the counter and looked at the tuna in the cutting board. He had had different plans for the fish, but he was willing to adapt it into another dish entirely. He went to the cupboards to take out the necessary ingredients, and started reconstructing his plan in his mind.

****

“Sushi?”  


Will looked up at him as Hannibal smiled widely. The dim light from the candles and the two lanterns illuminated only half of Will’s face, which somehow made him seem even younger for a moment.

“You don’t like it?”

“I’ve never had it, actually.”

“Never?” Hannibal asked.

Will shook his head, and Hannibal smiled. “Well, I won’t deny I like being the one to introduce you to new things.”

He set everything on the table while Will opened a bottle of white wine he had apparently bought for that night, and then they moved one of the lanterns to the side of the table so they could distinguish at least what they were about to eat.

“Won’t your frozen food spoil?” Hannibal asked while he opened the containers with the perfectly arranged pieces of maki and nigiri.

“I have a generator in the shed, where I have the freezer. It’s the first thing the realtor suggested when I bought the house,” he said, half a smile curling his lips up.

“Well, they had a point,” Hannibal said, looking around, and Will chuckled.

“They certainly did.”

Hannibal poured the soy sauce into a little plate between them, and then handed Will a pair of chopsticks. He pursed his lips as he took them.

“Are you sure I’m ready for such a big step? I could poke my eye out… or worse, yours,” he joked, holding them awkwardly between his fingers.

Hannibal reached out across the table and took Will’s hand with his, repositioning the chopsticks between his thumb, his index and ring finger.

“There you go.”

Will slowly opened and closed the chopsticks a couple of times, trying them. Then he took a piece of maki and raised it, smiling widely when his hand trembled a little but the food didn’t fall. Hannibal observed as he dipped it in the sauce, and then he put it in his mouth and started chewing. Will closed his eyes for a second, a thin wrinkle forming in his brow as he hummed.

“God, this is amazing,” he said when he swallowed.

Hannibal smiled warmly then, feeling the need to stand up and claim the man’s mouth with his until his lips were red. Instead, he took his own chopsticks, taming the desire that had already started to coil inside him.

“I’m really glad you like it,” he said honestly.

They ate in a comfortable silence, the only sound one of the dog’s paws as they walked from their bed to the bowl with water they had in another room.

“So, how was work?” Will asked, and Hannibal smiled again. He had been carefully avoiding asking him about work, even if he wanted to. But Will asking first was the perfect scenario.

“Work was all right. There is a new patient who reminds me a great deal of you.”

“Do they have my amazing curls?” Will joked, looking across the table with both eyebrows raised.

Hannibal chuckled, wiping his mouth with the napkin and taking a sip from the wine.

“Not quite. She’s just a kid, eleven years old, but as stubborn as you when it came to remaining in bed,” Hannibal said, remembering the incident that very same morning. “The look she gave the nurse who made her return to bed was even worse than the ones _you_ gave the poor nurses.”

Will leaned back in the chair as he laughed, and Hannibal’s smile widened in response.

“Yeah, maybe I wasn’t the easiest patient,” he admitted. Hannibal just stared at him, letting him know that _that_ was an understatement. Will laughed again, nodding and raising the palm of his free hand. “All right, I was a terrible patient. I think I’d like this kid.”

“You would,” Hannibal agreed, taking his chopsticks in hand once more. “What about you? How was work?”

Will’s smile faded a little, but the joy didn’t quite leave his eyes as he looked at Hannibal across the table. Then, he shrugged.

“You know. More of the same. One more body, as I told you the other day.”

“You still haven’t figured him out?”

“I don’t think this is a killer I get to figure out that easily… I think I _have_ figured something out, though. I think I know what he’s doing with the organs.”

That made Hannibal pause with the sushi piece between the two sticks, his heart perfectly even but his skin prickling with impatience. He forced an expression onto his face, one of mild curiosity and concern for whatever Will was about to tell him concerning a serial killer.

“How? Has he made a mistake?”

“No, not exactly…”

Hannibal waited patiently as Will bit the inside of his lip, and then he sighed and leaned forwards, resting his elbows over the table.

“I think he’s eating them.”

At this, his heartbeat did quicken. Hannibal looked at Will in the eyes, and they stayed in perfect silence. For a moment, Hannibal felt the need to smile, the pride he felt almost overwhelming. But he contained the gesture, swallowing and averting his eyes to the piece of sushi he still had between his chopsticks.

“The consumption of another person is still present in some cultures even nowadays, but it’s very rare here. Do you think it’s some kind of ritual?”

“No, I don’t think it’s like that at all. I still don’t know the reason, but… It _makes_ sense. He’s not keeping them, that’s for sure. He’s too intelligent for that.”

Hannibal chewed slowly, only nodding and inviting him to continue.

“Killers who eat their victims sometimes are trying to honor them, but that doesn’t fit him. In fact, it should be the opposite. He would have to at least have some kind of respect for his victims, so honoring them should not be in his agenda. Maybe this is his way of, not honoring them, but of elevating them. Or perhaps...” he paused, and Hannibal tipped his head. “Perhaps he doesn’t even perceive his victims as equals. Maybe it’s just his way of being at the top of the food chain.”

Hannibal stayed silent once again, too awestruck by Will’s brilliance to say anything. And then Will chuckled.

“Sorry. Not exactly a subject to discuss over dinner, is it?”

“Once again, Will, I asked you. Besides, I see things every day that would make anyone lose their appetite. A conversation like this is not going to do that for me now.”

“Well, you’re right about that.”

Will picked up his chopsticks, a warm smile curving his lips again. And even though Hannibal was eager to press him, to make him keep talking, he instead joined him and they started eating again.

“Thank you,” Will said then, his head bowed and his eyes fixed on the nigiri as he dipped it into the soy sauce.

“What for? The sushi?”

“That too, it’s _really_ good,” he said, raising the piece again. “But you know… For coming.”

“Will…”

“I know, I know it’s a silly thing to say at this point, but… I just wanted to say it.”

Hannibal nodded, and they both looked at each other until Will grinned and looked away first. Once again, Hannibal felt the tightness in his chest that was now starting to feel familiar every time he was with Will.

He bowed his head, marveling in the feeling while Will was still looking down at the food. Hannibal had only felt something close to this once when he was merely a child, many years before. So many that he had almost thought it had been a delusion. But there it was again, only stronger, more bright and intense…

They continued eating and talking about nothing and everything at the same time, not discussing either of their jobs again. When they finished, they moved the lantern to the sink. Since the power was still out, there wasn’t running water, but Will apparently _was_ prepared for that, and he had a few gallon water bottles handy for a situation like that. So they washed the plates and glasses they had used, Hannibal lathering them and Will rinsing them off. When he finished with the last one, he dried his hands with the kitchen rag, and then he stood behind Will to circle his waist with both arms while he was still busy with the two glasses. Will squirmed a little in his arms, but not because he wanted to free himself. Hannibal pressed his chest to Will’s back and linked his fingers together over his stomach as he put his chin over his shoulder, letting his lips brush the sensitive skin behind his ear and inhaling Will’s soap scent.

“You really don’t want me to finish this, do you…?”

“No, please, continue. Don’t let me distract you,” Hannibal teased. Will snorted but didn’t move away.

Will finally finished with the last glass, and he left it on the sink almost too quickly before grabbing the kitchen rag and drying his hands and forearms. He tipped his head to be able to meet Hannibal’s eyes and smirked.

“We still need to dry them,” Will told him.

“Ah, yes. You are absolutely right.”

Hannibal dragged his fingers across Will’s stomach, guiding one of his hands down, feeling the buttons of the light blue shirt Will had worn, most probably for his sake, and stopping with only the tip of his ring finger brushing the waistband of his slacks.

Will answered to that by unconsciously leaning backwards against his chest and dropping his head against Hannibal’s shoulder, his lips parting in a soft gasp and a smile.

“I don’t think that’s the right strategy, Hannibal.”

“My bad…” he said as he mouthed against the strong line of his jaw, feeling the stubble against his lips. He pressed a chaste kiss in the point where the jaw met the ear, and Will’s eyes closed as a little sound came out of his mouth.

Hannibal smiled against his skin, and then he remembered something he had thought about in the long hours of his ER shifts, so he moved back to be able to look at him.

“How would you feel about trying something new?”

Will’s eyes fluttered open, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he turned to look at him. “Yes.”

Hannibal felt a sudden arousal coiling in his stomach at Will’s answer. He had expected him to frown a little, maybe to ask first what he meant… And instead, the man kept surprising him, Hannibal unable to predict almost any of his actions.

“You don’t want to know what is it?” he asked him.

“Of course I do. But all in due time,” Will whispered, craning his neck towards him so his lips brushed Hannibal’s cheek. “Tell me what to do.”

Hannibal had to fight the urge to push Will against the counter, shove both of their pants down and take him right there, abandoning his idea. He closed his eyes for a second as his lips parted to suck in a breath. He leaned forwards enough so that Will was upright once again, his head lifting from his shoulder.

“Get undressed and wait for me in your bed,” Hannibal said, trying not to let the arousal stain his voice too much, but failing almost completely. “I’ll finish this.”

Will smiled at his offer, and then he nodded. Once again, no questions, no hesitation at all. He simply moved away from Hannibal’s arms, took a couple of candles from the coffee table, blew out the rest, and then went into his bedroom after petting both of the dogs.

Hannibal’s gaze followed his every move, and only when Will left the room did he allow himself to move. He dried the things they had washed with the slowest pace he could impose upon himself, which was still too fast as his mind kept picturing Will taking his clothes off hastily and throwing himself onto the bed, waiting for him.

When he had set everything in a neat pile on the counter, he turned one of the lanterns off and took the other with him to the bedroom. The sight that greeted him was even better than anything his mind could’ve conceived. Will was delightfully naked, lying in the center of the mattress propped up on his elbows and with his legs just barely apart, his calves hanging from the edge of the mattress. His pale skin was darkened in the room, the light of the candles highlighting every curve and line of his body, and his cock was already harder than Hannibal had expected, beautifully curved over his stomach. The scene before him was more beautiful than any painting or sculpture he had ever laid his eyes on, and the single laugh that filled the space between them in that moment, more beautiful than any composition he had ever heard.

“I wasn’t sure if I was overdoing it.”

“No,” Hannibal said immediately. “It’s perfect.”

Will caught his lower lip between his teeth and nodded. “All right. Now what?”

Since he had been frozen under the threshold, Hannibal finally went into the room, closing the door behind him. He left the lantern on the dresser, adjusting the light until it was dim. Then he turned around and started taking off his suit; he had decided to go for a more casual look tonight, only a jacket and a shirt underneath, no vest or tie. He knew Will liked seeing him in casual clothes, as he had seen the way he looked at him when he was wearing a sweater or just a shirt when they were together on the weekends.

“Do you trust me, Will?”

Hannibal folded his jacket and left it on the armchair, beside the small bag he had brought to spend the weekend there. He started unbuttoning his shirt, never turning his back to Will.

“Yes,” Will answered, his voice lowering as his arousal increased.

Once he had taken his shirt, everything else except his underwear followed suit, and he left them on the armchair too. Hannibal finally approached the bed with only his boxers encaging his already half hard erection. He sat on the edge of the bed beside Will, and then he dragged a finger from Will’s smooth, almost hairless chest down to his stomach and to his navel, merely a brush that made Will’s breath hitch as his cock twitched.

“I’d like to blindfold you,” Hannibal finally told him, Will’s eyes shifting from his finger to his eyes, his pupils dilating. “I’d love to see how you react to touch while being deprived of your vision, see how much pleasure I can make you feel.”

Hannibal pressed his palm flat on Will’s stomach, and he felt the skin and muscle move up and down with his quickening breaths. Will didn’t respond right away, but his eyes never left Hannibal’s as he seemed to consider it. Although if Hannibal had to guess based on the hunger in his eyes and the way he could smell the dense scent of his arousal, he already knew what his answer would be.

“Have you ever done this?” Will asked, and Hannibal tipped his head, once again not expecting that.

“No,” he simply said.

Hannibal saw how Will’s eyes gleamed as he ran his tongue across his lips. He knew Will understood what that meant; that he had never cared for anyone enough to want to do that with them.

And then, Will nodded as he smirked.

“Tell me what I can use,” Hannibal said. “I could take one of the ties I’ve brought if you don’t have anything else,” he suggested, nodding towards the bag on the armchair.

“Tie _s_? Why am I not surprised that you brought several _ties_ to spend the weekend here?” Will asked, smirking, and Hannibal shrugged a little.

“One has to be prepared for everything. Will.”

“Sure… There’s a handkerchief in the top drawer over there,” he said, nodding towards the dresser in front of the bed.

Hannibal got up and went to it, but the first thing he found was not the handkerchief. The keychain he had given Will back in the hospital welcomed him, along with the pansy and his card. He took the first object and turned around with the ugly pink salmon dangling from his hand.

“Oh god, I had forgotten that was there…” Will said, flushing and sitting up in the mattress.

“You kept it,” Hannibal said, a fond smile on his lips.

“I- Yes. Of course I did.”

Hannibal looked at the keychain for a second, and then he put it back where it had been. That would definitely be something he’d want to discuss further, but not in that moment. Not when his mind kept conjuring the image of Will blindfolded.

He found the handkerchief under a couple of folders that probably contained bills and letters, and took it out. It was a good, silky cloth, and he let it unfold between two fingers, feeling the smooth material. And then, in a corner, he saw a monogrammed W and a G, and gave Will a questioning look as he approached the bed.

“It was… a strange Secret Santa gift from a coworker,” he shrugged.

“I don’t imagine your coworker had this purpose in mind when he gifted it to you,” Hannibal said, stopping right before Will, who was still seated by the bed’s edge.

Will looked up at him between his eyelashes and gave him a smug smile. “No, I don’t think he did.”

Hannibal bent down, taking Will’s nape with his free hand and bringing their foreheads and mouths closer, but not kissing him yet. He felt the other’s breath faltering against his skin, and he knew Will was eager to close the distance between them, but he didn’t, repressing the need. Hannibal smiled at this, and he finally leaned in to join their lips.

When he licked Will’s lips, the other parted them immediately, welcoming Hannibal’s tongue with a moan and craning his neck as much as he could to kiss him properly. Hannibal dragged his hand down, resting his palm over Will’s collarbone when he pulled back and looked at Will between ragged breaths.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Will said.

Hannibal folded the handkerchief until it was the perfect shape for a blindfold, leaving Will’s initials visible on one of the ends. Then, Hannibal took Will’s chin with two fingers and tilted his head up a little, giving him a brief kiss on the lips before raising the blindfold.

Will simply nodded, and closed his eyes. Hannibal carefully put the handkerchief over them and then he circled Will’s head to tie it in the back. He did it, careful not to catch any of his curls with the cloth, and then he checked the knot so it wasn’t too tight, but not too loose either.

Once he was content with the blindfold, Hannibal pulled back to admire his work. Will’s hair was flattened around the cloth, and tousled everywhere else, he was breathing heavily through his red and swollen lips, his head still tipped a little upwards and he was resting his hands beside his thighs, his nails digging into the mattress, probably trying to get used to being deprived of his eyes… It was such a breathtaking sight, that Hannibal stayed completely still.

“Hannibal…?” Will asked when he didn’t move for a few seconds, blindly raising a hand before him.

He finally reacted, reaching out to take Will’s hand. “I’m here,” he said, brushing the knuckles of his other hand across the other’s cheek, which made Will turn his head towards the contact. “I wish you could see yourself right now…”

“Do I look too ridiculous…?” he asked, a nervous smile fluttering about his lips.

Hannibal bent down again, brushing Will’s ear with his lips.

“You are exquisite.”

Hannibal pulled back, enjoying the way his words made Will shiver. He let go of his hand slowly.

“Can you move to the center of the bed, Will?”

“Yes.”

Hannibal took one of the pillows Will had removed from the bed before, preparing himself and the room for them, and he returned while Will was crawling backwards. Will flopped down on the mattress when he felt the headboard with a hand, and he moved his head around as if he could see Hannibal that way. He didn’t make Will wait anymore. Climbing onto the mattress, Hannibal crawled over him and took the back of his knees to make him bend and spread his legs.

“Lift up,” he said, and Will did so, raising his hips.

Hannibal put the pillow underneath him, and then he pulled back and sat on his knees, dragging both hands over Will’s thighs to drink in the sight once again.

“Are you all right?” he asked, since he could feel how tense Will was.

Will let out a long breath then, relaxing his muscles, and he nodded as he swallowed thickly.

“I am.”

“Good.”

Hannibal straightened over him, careful not to touch his body with any part of his yet, and then he let the fingertips of his index and middle fingers brush against Will’s smooth chest. The man’s skin immediately turned into gooseflesh, a shiver hitching his breath. Hannibal smiled, admiring the way Will reacted to that simple touch, and then he dragged his fingers down his stomach, feeling Will’s muscles tense and relax in answer.

“Have you- _oh_ ,” Will started asking when Hannibal suddenly changed the course of his fingers and let them fall over his side, feeling the ridges of his ribs under them. “Have you thought about doing this before?”

“I have,” Hannibal said.

He pressed both palms on the mattress and bent down until his mouth was very close to Will’s neck.

“I have imagined you like this multiple times, during my ER shifts…” he whispered against Will’s neck.

Will let out a small sound at feeling him so close, and he bent his head backwards, giving Hannibal complete access to his throat. Hannibal had to force himself not to give into the temptation to suck and bite at the flesh until the skin was painted with new colors. Instead, he merely let his lips brush the line of his jaw, and then he retreated.

“It’s quite difficult for me to focus on the patients’ files when all I want is to be right here,” he continued saying as he moved down the expanse of Will’s chest.

“In my house?” Will asked playfully.

“With you.”

Hannibal let his breath hit Will’s skin, the only indication Will had of the path he was following. He stopped above Will’s right nipple, and all words died as he let his tongue graze over the nub. A proper moan escaped Will as he arched unconsciously, chasing the contact while Hannibal pulled back.

Hannibal smiled wider at seeing Will breathing heavily and already so sensitive, and then he pressed his mouth over his breastbone, only to let his lips skim down his stomach, following the thin trail of hair down his navel.

“Shit, Hannibal…”

Will writhed slightly beneath him, but Hannibal knew he wasn’t uncomfortable; not in the slightest. “Does it feel good?”

Hannibal pulled himself up to return to his chest again, only this time he pressed his mouth in earnest against the other nipple.

“Y- yes. Oh, fuck.”

Hannibal parted his lips and licked a broad stripe, and this time when Will arched against him, he mouthed at his skin, sucking and swirling his tongue as Will’s ragged breathing turned into soft sounds.

After that, he moved to the other and paid it the same attention. When Hannibal pulled back a little, he enjoyed the view of Will panting, the tight line of his jaw, his heaving chest… He focused back on Will’s skin and started trailing a path down his stomach, lightly brushing with his tongue until he met Will’s scar below his navel, in the right side of his abdomen. He grazed the scar with his teeth, and then nipped at the jutting out bone of his hip below it. Will answered by bucking his hips slightly, his erection untouched and leaking against his stomach.

Hannibal straightened again, and he licked his own lips, fighting against the need to lap at Will’s precome, to wrap his mouth around him and make him squirm even more… But he didn’t, because he had other plans to make Will moan with pleasure.

Hannibal grabbed both of his hips and pulled, dragging him closer. The movement left the pillow under the middle of Will’s back, which elevated his lower body exactly as Hannibal had intended. Will raised his head at that even though he couldn’t see, trying to understand what Hannibal was doing. He smirked as he lay down on his stomach between Will’s legs, and he dragged a hand from his knee to his inner thigh. And then, Hannibal took both of his butt-cheeks and spread them apart to press his tongue against the taut muscle, and Will made a strangled noise.

“Hannibal, what…? Are you sure?”

Hannibal pulled back to meet his blinded eyes, and wondering what sort of people Will had had sex with, if nobody had ever done that to him before, having a creature like Will in their bed.

“Is this not all right?”

“I- Uh. Yeah, it is. But are you sure you want-?” he started asking, his voice letting Hannibal know it was a matter of concern for _him_.

“Will. I _very_ much want to do this,” he said. “Relax…”

Will swallowed and nodded, so Hannibal resumed what he had started. When he pressed his tongue again against him, he felt Will drop his head against the mattress. Hannibal started massaging the muscle until it was slick and wet, and then he went inside him. Will cried out, grabbing the sheets with both hands and wriggling beneath him. Hannibal spread him further with both hands, alternating the circling movements with broad stripes before thrusting his tongue back in, drawing the most beautiful sounds out of Will.

“Ha- Hannibal…” Will managed to say in between heavy gasps.

When Hannibal pulled back and sat up a little, he saw just how hard and close Will was, panting heavily and spread over the sheets, and he smiled. He put two fingers right in the place where his tongue had been and he went inside him slowly, even if Will was already prepared and slick with his saliva. Will bent his head backwards again, catching his red lower lip between his teeth and letting it go when Hannibal crooked his fingers to touch the spot he was looking for.

Hannibal went in and out of him a couple of times, and when he repeated the movement for the second time, Will came with a hoarse and loud moan, arching against Hannibal’s fingers, his muscles deflating as he fought to catch his breath. Hannibal pulled out of him only to bend over and lap at his stomach, cleaning his release as his own erection throbbed inside his underwear. When he was done, he crawled over him again and grabbed the blindfold, carefully taking it off. When Will’s blue-gray eyes fluttered open, Hannibal couldn’t help but to catch his lips in a slow kiss, not wanting to overwhelm him. But when he pulled back, he saw the hunger still present in Will’s eyes, matching his own, and Hannibal gasped, gazing down.

Will was still hard between both of their stomachs, and Will smiled when he looked at him again. Hannibal started guiding his hand down, but then Will grabbed his wrist, stronger than Hannibal had expected, and shook his head.

“Now it’s _my_ turn.”

Will suddenly pushed him with a hand against his shoulder and his knee against Hannibal’s hip, and then he was on top of him, his ass over Hannibal’s erection, with both wrists trapped under Will’s hands.

“That was…” Will started saying, as he swayed his hips.

Hannibal resisted the urge to buck his hips up against Will when the friction elicited a low rumble out of his throat.

“Good?” Hannibal suggested.

Will smirked briefly as he repeated the movement, and he dug his nails into Hannibal’s wrists, although not enough to do too much damage.

“More like amazing,” Will whispered in a hoarse voice.

A low moan escaped Will’s lips, betrayed by his own movements, and he released Hannibal’s hands. Hannibal stayed completely still letting him do as he pleased, relinquishing all his control to Will as the man had done before, trusting him and not moving while he was blindfolded.

Will got off Hannibal and removed his boxers in an eager movement, throwing them backwards unconcerned of where they would land. When he turned around again, he reached into the bedside table, where he took a condom and the tube of lube. Hannibal didn’t move as Will opened the first and put it on Hannibal’s aching erection, nor when he coated him with the lube. Once he was done, Will straddled him again.

Will bent down and kissed him once again, more eagerly, with more teeth, his tongue unrelenting when he sucked at Hannibal’s upper lip. Will pulled back then and straightened again. When Will settled over him and took Hannibal’s hard cock in his hand, he gasped, but his eyes didn’t leave Will’s face, not even for a second. Hannibal put both hands over Will’s thighs to balance him as he positioned himself. Will turned to look at him in the eyes too, and Hannibal’s breath hitched in his throat. And then, Will sunk down on his lap.

They moaned at the same time, but Hannibal heard it like it was a distant thing, like the sounds coming from his own mouth weren’t his, because his sole focus was on Will. Will, who pressed both hands against Hannibal’s chest as he let himself go down inch by inch, prepared by Hannibal’s tongue and fingers, but still more tight than he was used to. Will, who was staring right at Hannibal as he did this, his eyes heavy-lidded and dark, and his breath ragged. And Will, who cried out and had to close his eyes and drop his head backwards when Hannibal was completely inside him.

Wil stayed still for a few seconds, and then, very slowly - almost painfully so - he pulled out and slowly sank back down, curling the fingers of one hand in the coarse hair of Hannibal’s chest.

And then, as Will started to quicken his movements, time seemed to slow down for Hannibal instead. Because he had never been in the presence of this much beauty, and Will wasn’t even aware of it. Will wasn’t aware of how beautiful he was, how Hannibal’s skin shuddered at the sight above him, at the damp, dark curls matted against Will’s forehead, his fluttering eyelids that tried to remain open but gave up when another moan left his reddened and swollen lips.

He didn’t know how beautiful his skin was, beaded with sweat and already marked by Hannibal’s fingers sinking into his thighs and hips. Will didn’t know, and Hannibal wanted to tell him over and over, but he couldn’t have said anything in that moment even if his life had depended on it.

But above all, what Will didn’t know was how beautiful his mind was. He didn’t know, but Hannibal thought so every time he saw Will question his own thoughts. He didn’t know how beautiful his doubts were, how much Hannibal wanted to help him unravel himself, discover every single part of him, every corner, every buried and forgotten thought and desire.

He didn’t know how beautiful he was in that moment, all barriers down, looking more beast than human, more the man he tried to hide under his skin than the suit he wore, like Hannibal’s own, only Will did so almost unconsciously. Will didn’t realize yet that the thing he worked so hard to keep caged, should be freed instead, should be revered and reveled in. But Hannibal knew well, and he knew how he would be even more beautiful once he saw it, too.

Hannibal bared his teeth when Will quickened his pace, and one of his hands left his thigh to skim across his chest and loosely wrap his fingers around his collarbone and neck, even if what he actually wanted to do was wrap his entire body around Will’s, around his mind, around his soul.

“Will…” he managed to say, his own voice sounding like a stranger’s.

Will smiled a little between ragged pants and faltering moans, and then Hannibal felt the ecstasy building inside him, coiling in his lower stomach, so he wrapped his other hand around Will’s cock. The other cried out, but didn’t stop his movements, fucking himself on Hannibal’s lap and hand at the same time.

Hannibal came shortly thereafter, a long, hoarse moan filling the room as he tightened his fingers around Will, which made him follow closely for the second time that night.

When Will had ridden both of their orgasms, he slowed down his movements and pulled out of Hannibal slowly. Will took the condom before Hannibal could move, and threw it onto the trash bin beside the bedside table. When Will turned again, he collapsed against Hannibal’s chest, completely worn out. Hannibal smiled as he raised a hand to caress Will’s hair, brushing his curls back and pressing his lips against the crown of Will’s head. The other looked up at that and craned his neck. They kissed in lethargic and slow movements, their breaths still ragged, their chests joined and their limbs tangled.

“You are so beautiful…” Hannibal finally said when they looked at each other.

Will smiled drowsily, the hunger that had previously darkened his eyes now gone and replaced by the fond look he gave Hannibal. But still, as he looked at the light of the candles dancing across his features, Hannibal knew Will probably thought his words were merely praise, something he was saying in the moment, with their bodies completely drenched in each other’s scents and their orgasms still rippling beneath their skin.

But it was not a praise meant to please or satisfy a lover. Hannibal had done that a few times before, fake words whispered in banal ears while he nourished his carnal desires. But Will was not just a lover. Hannibal had thought about him like that, in the very beginning, when he had seen him in the hospital. Beautiful blue-gray eyes and snarky answers, although not meaning to be rude. He had wanted him in his bed, and he had wanted to draw moans out of him, but he had not at all expected what he had found as he drew whispered secrets out of Will, or as Will kept seeing Hannibal more clearly than anyone had ever done, both when they were together and through the messages he was sending him, even if Will hadn’t pieced everything together. Not yet.

And Hannibal couldn’t wait to see how everything would turn out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, a few things!
> 
> · Did someone actually thought I could leave Beverly out? I just couldn't! :P  
> · Bonus points if someone noticed little Abigail's cameo ;)  
> · This is my first time writing a few of the things I wrote in this chapter, so I hope they're not too terrible. This was supposed to be a chapter about plot, I swear, but they keep doing this to me!!
> 
> I hope the wait was worth it. Thanks everyone for your support!!!


	12. Chapter 12

Will and Hannibal spent that Saturday morning doing as little as they could. Since the power was back, the first thing they did was to take a shower together to wash away the last remnants of the previous night. They washed each other, Hannibal pressing soft kisses into the crook of Will’s shoulder after scrubbing his back, and Will mouthing the line of Hannibal’s jaw under the water. When they finished, they had a late breakfast. After that, Hannibal asked Will about his fishing lures, and he spent most of the morning showing him how he made them, the other listening intently to his every word, placing new questions in the right moments to keep him talking. Will chuckled and asked him if he was really interested in the subject or if he just wanted to hear him talk, and Hannibal answered ‘ _maybe both’_ with a coy smile.

After lunch, though, Will looked up from the book he was reading and to Hannibal, smiling in advance. Hannibal was sitting on the couch, his own book in his hand, while Will was lying with his back to the armrest and his feet beside the other’s thigh. So all he had to do was move one of his feet a bit to nudge his leg. Hannibal looked to the foot that had dared to disrupt his reading, and then up to Will.

“Yes?” he asked, and Will saw that even though he was trying to maintain a false offended expression, an amused smile was already tugging at his lips.

“I was thinking…” Will started to say, not taking his foot off Hannibal’s thigh and nudging Hannibal again when he reached out to leave the book on the coffee table. “Why don’t we go outside? Take a walk with the dogs?”

Hannibal finally smiled sincerely as he closed his own book. He placed a hand on the narrow space of naked skin between Will’s pants and his socks, and he rubbed his thumb there. Even if it was an insignificant gesture after everything they had shared, Will felt a tug in his lower belly. He also remembered the night before, the feeling of being completely at Hannibal’s mercy, and right afterwards, of being completely in control over him, and how much he had loved both feelings. He had to look down for a second, pretty sure that a small sound would betray him if he continued that line of thought. Luckily, Hannibal’s voice pulled him back to the present.

“I like that idea. Give me a minute to get dressed and we’ll go,” Hannibal said, standing up.

Will followed the movement of the hand that had been resting on his ankle as it slipped away, and he immediately missed the touch. But then, realizing what the other had said, he raised his eyebrows.

“Dressed? You’re not going to wear a suit to go take a walk, are you?” Will teased as he circled the couch.

Hannibal gave him an amused smile before disappearing into the bedroom, and Will huffed a laugh, shaking his head. When Hannibal came out again, however, he wasn’t wearing a suit. He had replaced the pajama pants he’d been wearing for a pair of slacks, and the sweater he had worn was now replaced by another one that didn’t seem much different to Will.

“Shall we?” Hannibal asked, standing in the middle of the room.

Will nodded, and then rose to his feet. The dogs got up from their beds, whining and already sensing what they were about to do, so Will opened the door to let them out while he and Hannibal put on their coats.

As soon as they went outside, the cold day of December made Will slouch a little, burying his neck into his coat and letting out a puff of air that turned into fog around his mouth. After Will had closed the door, they started walking side by side, and he noticed Hannibal had something in his hand, but it wasn’t until he raised it that he could make out the form. And then, Hannibal put it on his head.

A laugh burst from Will’s throat. He stopped in front of the porch and bent at his waist.

“Oh my god,” he said, staring at the hat that now covered Hannibal’s head.

It was a black Russian hat, the earflaps folded back, and the front flap pointing upwards. And yet, Will found himself liking on Hannibal something that would look ridiculous on anybody else.

“I take it you don’t like it…?” Hannibal asked, raising his eyebrows in an amused expression.

“No, no, it’s… It’s actually cute. I just didn’t expect you to wear something like that,” he said sincerely.

Will touched the soft fabric of the ears and then grinned before leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss on Hannibal’s lips. The man smiled at him when he pulled back, and then he took Will’s hand in his. Will bit his lower lip as they started walking side by side, following the dogs’ path.

After a long walk, they spent the rest of the day in the same calm rhythm they had established. Will was still very much tired and sore from the previous night, so they only stole a few lazy kisses from each other while they lay together on the couch before deciding to go to sleep. Will fell asleep hugging Hannibal from behind, feeling the man’s peaceful breathing against his chest and slipping into unconsciousness with a smile on his lips…

But when he woke up in the middle of the night, heart pounding inside his ribs and mind still bursting from a nightmare, he wasn’t as peaceful anymore.

****

Hannibal opened his eyes and immediately turned to the empty space behind him. He raised his head and dragged his hand through the sheets to feel the place where Will had been a few hours ago, his arms wrapped around Hannibal’s waist as they fell asleep. But the sheets were cold now, a sign that Will had been gone for a while. Then he heard the rustle of paper and a muffled sigh from the living room, and he noticed the dim light spilling through the closed door.

For a moment, he wondered how Will had managed to get out of bed and go to another room without waking him up. Hannibal had always been a light sleeper by necessity, and no one who had shared his bed had ever managed to slip out without him noticing. But once again, Will kept surprising him, and Hannibal kept surprising himself when it came to the other man.

Hannibal got out of bed, taking one of the sweaters that rested on the armchair, and then went out of the room as he put it on. Will was on the couch, completely surrounded by what looked like case files and pictures, and the two dogs were calmly sleeping on their beds in a corner of the room.

“Trouble sleeping?”

Will raised his head from the files as Hannibal approached him, circling the table and looking at the papers that were scattered on it. He recognized some of the murders on the pictures instantly.

“Yeah, you could say that…” Will answered, leaning backwards and sighing again as he ran both hands over his face. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“No, don’t worry,” he said, and it was the truth. Will hadn’t exactly woken him up.

Hannibal lifted a few files and pictures to be able to sit on the couch, and then he looked at them and frowned. These were _not_ from The Chesapeake Ripper case.

“The Slasher,” Will said then, guessing his thoughts.

“The man that sent you to the hospital,” Hannibal said, remembering the story of the killer that had shot Will. He took one of the pictures beside Will’s thigh: a man with his throat cut, left in the middle of the street in an absurd posture. Will had been right. Absolutely no elegance in it. “Why are you looking at this case again?”

Will pursed his lips and frowned.

“I had a nightmare about him, and…” he started to say, but then he looked up. “I didn’t tell you, did I? They found a new body two days ago. They think it might be him again, but they’re not sure.”

Hannibal was the one who frowned again, the last remnants of sleep dissipating from his mind.

“I thought this killer had been caught,” he said, carefully leaving the picture where it had been. “After he shot you.”

“Oh,” Will said, arching his eyebrows. “I- No, he wasn’t. He escaped…”

It was mostly the way he said it, that made Hannibal’s skin prickle in anticipation. He leaned backwards and relaxed his posture, so as not to seem so eager.

“You blame yourself,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Will nodded then, and Hannibal thought he looked years younger for a moment. Hannibal shifted a little on the couch to face him, but then he looked down, thinking through the words in his mind. Whatever he said next, he had to tread carefully.

“Do you… wish you would have killed him in that moment?”

“What?”

When Hannibal met Will’s eyes again, he saw the small crease in his brow.

“You told me the reason you froze was because you _wanted_ to kill him, not catch him. So I’m asking you: do you wish, right now, that you would’ve killed him?”

“Well, I obviously would want him _not_ to have killed the last victim…”

“This man killing people is not your fault, Will. But that’s not what I asked.”

“So you’re asking me just if I would’ve _liked_ killing him?”

“Yes,” Hannibal said, flatly. “In the hypothetical situation in which you would’ve _truly_ killed him… Would it have felt so terribly wrong? Wouldn’t it have felt good? Right, even?”

“Everyone has thought about killing a person… And I very much have thought about killing him,” Will said, and Hannibal had to contain the smile that threatened to stretch his lips. A smile was not the response someone normal would have in this conversation. But Will seemed to realize his own words, because he frowned again. “But you’re talking about killing a person. _Really_ killing someone.”

“Killing must feel good to God, he does it all the time, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, well, I’m not God. And we’re talking about another person’s life. It… would’ve felt wrong.”

“Is that what you really believe, or what you would _like_ to believe?”

Will rose to his feet in an abrupt movement, throwing the papers he had held in his lap onto the table, some of them falling to the floor. Hannibal knew then that he was probably going too far, but he couldn’t stop, not in that moment. Not when he was so close to getting Will to make another confession.

“Is this what you would ask a patient of yours after you open your practice, if you were discussing something like this in a session?” Will asked, raising his voice. Hannibal heard the dogs stir in their beds.

“You are not my patient Will, you are my partner. And I only want your happiness.”

“How would killing a man have brought me happiness?” Will demanded, pacing by the side of the table.

“Wouldn’t his death have appeased your mind?”

Will stopped suddenly, and Hannibal saw the conflict within his mind as he considered it. But then, he shook his head.

“Why are you saying this to me? Do you think I don’t feel bad enough about not having caught him when I had the chance? I _am_ responsible for that victim, and the victims that come after until someone catches him.”

“Will… You _can’t_ blame yourself for this killer’s murders,” Hannibal repeated.

“Well, I do!” he yelled. “And I _do_ wish I had killed him right there, when I had the chance!”

In that moment, Hannibal was torn between the need to pressure Will further, and the fierce feeling that gnawed at him from the inside, the need to protect Will from his own doubts, from the fear he had of himself.

Will’s anger fell from his face as quickly as it had come, and Hannibal stood up, but didn’t go to him.

“Will, I’m so sorry. I got too carried away in this theoretical discussion,” he said. But Will shook his head and walked up to him, not stepping on the pictures dispersed on the floor.

“No, no, I’m… I’m sorry, Hannibal. I shouldn’t have lost control like that, I don’t even know why-”

He stopped before him, and Hannibal finally reached out to him, taking his arm and wrapping him in a hug, one of his hands cradling the back of his head as Will buried his face into the crook of his neck. After a couple of seconds, Hannibal felt both of Will’s arms hugging him too, circling his back and sinking his fingers into Hannibal’s skin as he tightened the embrace.

They stood like that for minutes, Hannibal feeling Will’s heartbeat slowing down against his chest, his warm breaths reaching Hannibal’s skin through the wool of his sweater. Only when he felt Will’s clasp loosening did he finally pull back, cupping Will’s face and meeting his eyes.

“I’m really sorry, Will.”

“No, I’m…” he started saying, but then he chuckled. “We could be apologizing to each other all night, so why don’t we just agree that we’re both sorry?”

“I very much agree with that.”

Hannibal kissed him on his forehead, and then on the bridge of his nose, and Will closed his eyes at the contact. When Hannibal pulled back, it took Will a couple of seconds to open his eyes again, and when he did, Hannibal saw how tired he was.

“Why don’t we go back to bed, sleep until late tomorrow morning?”

Will smiled tiredly, but he nodded. “Yes, please…” He looked at the mess on the table, and pursed his lips. “I’ll clean this up tomorrow, I suddenly feel like I can’t even lift my arms.”

They went to the bedroom, Hannibal turning the lights off and closing the door behind them. He took the sweater off before lying down on the mattress and dragging Will to his arms, where Will curled up against him, falling asleep almost before his head hit Hannibal’s chest.

****

Will woke up to the feeling of Hannibal entirely pressed against him, outlining the shape of his own body, the man’s chest against Will’s back. As soon as he moved a little, Hannibal woke up too, the arm he had draped over Will’s waist tightening its hold, bringing him even closer if that was possible.

“Good morning…” Hannibal whispered behind him.

Will smiled, and had the sudden thought that this was how he wanted to wake up every day, with the warmth of Hannibal’s body against him, his arms around him, his breath hitting Will’s bare skin before he pressed a light kiss on the skin behind Will’s ear, sending shivers down his body.

A small sound escaped Will’s mouth and he froze, almost startled by his own half-moan. He felt Hannibal still for a second, but then he pressed his hips against Will, and he felt the other’s morning erection. Will had to bite his lower lip not to moan open-mouthed at the feeling, Hannibal’s hard cock against the crevice of his ass. Even through his underwear and Hannibal’s pajama pants, he could feel how it pulsed against him.

Will turned his head a little, not moving his body. He looked at Hannibal, his breath turning heavier in the narrow gap between their mouths, and then he reached out to grab Hannibal’s ass. He sank his fingers into the meat there, and pulled him closer, pressing Hannibal against himself. That elicited a groan from Hannibal, and Will smiled before leaning his mouth against him, sucking Hannibal’s lower lip before licking into his mouth in a lazy and sloppy kiss.

He started rocking his hips at the same time that Hannibal thrust slowly in a lethargic and erratic rhythm. The hand Hannibal had pressed against Will’s stomach crawled downward, meeting the waistband of Will’s underpants and dragging them down as he reached inside. Hannibal wrapped his fingers around Will’s cock, which was already half-hard, and it swelled almost too quickly at the contact. Hannibal swallowed Will’s groan into another kiss as he started pumping his erection, his thumb caressing the tip and then dragging his long fingers down to the root. That only made Will’s hips move further, chasing Hannibal’s hand and the contact of the other’s erection against his ass, Hannibal’s cock throbbing behind him. It wasn’t long before Hannibal came with a throaty moan as he tightened his grip around Will’s cock and deepened the kiss. Will came in Hannibal’s hand shortly after, his fingers sinking even deeper into Hannibal’s hip, moaning against the other’s lips as the orgasm rippled through him.

When they pulled back so their eyes could meet, Will smiled again as he panted.

“I think we’re going to need to take another shower together,” he whispered.

Hannibal cocked an eyebrow, an amused expression taking over his still hazy eyes. “Believe me, Will, I am not complaining about that any time soon.”

They did so, and when they finished the shower, they prepared breakfast together, Hannibal making pancakes with a mix Will had in his pantry, even if he had crumpled his nose a little at seeing the package with the already prepared mix.

Will leaned against the counter after he finished cutting the fruit and setting the table, and then he inevitably remembered the night before at seeing the photographs still where they had left them.

They had had a sort of fight, even though it had been mostly just him yelling and being angry at Hannibal, if only for a moment. He remembered how Hannibal had asked him about The Slasher, his questions making Will’s stomach churn and his heart quicken, but not in the pleasing way it always did when he was with Hannibal. He had felt the fear crawling inside him, the darkness he tried to keep at bay stirring and pleading with him to answer honestly. Or, rather, with the truth sometimes Will sometimes felt inside himself, the truth he refused to acknowledge as his.

Now, he observed Hannibal in silence, and for a second, the mere existence of the man before him shocked him. He wondered how someone like Hannibal even existed, the juxtaposition of the gentle and polite man who yet had an air of a wilder and dangerous being around him, surrounding him like an aura.

And Will wondered, for a second... He wondered if-

No. Hannibal was nothing like the darkness inside Will, nothing like the monster he kept caged in the deepest corners of his mind.

He knew Hannibal had asked him all that merely because he was curious, not only as his partner, but also, most probably, as the psychiatrist he also was. And yet, Hannibal had been so understanding of everything Will had told him, in every little thing he had confessed to him, that Will couldn’t help but wonder sometimes.

Hannibal raised his gaze at that precise moment and smiled at finding Will studying him so intently. A sly and playful smile curled the corners of Hannibal’s mouth.

“What?”

Will blinked. Then he shook his head almost imperceptibly, a shy smile creeping into his own lips.

“Nothing. I was thinking. I just…” He said, and he looked down, playing with the handle of the knife he had used. “I love spending more time with you.”

Hannibal’s smile softened and widened. He left the whisk in the bowl with the mix and leaned in closer to Will.

“I love spending this much more time with you, too.”

Will sensed the unsaid words between them: that Will wished they could be together even more, that he wanted to spend every waking hour outside of work with Hannibal, and he knew the other probably felt the same way. But neither of them said anything, if only because it was implied in the way they looked at each other, the way Will’s hand lingered on Hannibal’s waist, and the way Hannibal’s eyes dropped from Will’s to his lips before finally pulling him into a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things!
> 
> · [Meduszoa](http://meduszoa.tumblr.com/) drew this [AMAZING art](https://twitter.com/meduszoa/status/737235396678057984) for my birthday, with blindfolded Will!! *___* 
> 
> · Next week I will definitely not update AFW. The main reason is, we're celebrating the [#JustFuckMeUp](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/post/144915637924/join-us-in-the-justfuckmeup-fest-what-is-it) fest in [Hannibal Cre-Ate-Ive](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/)! If you don't know what that is: it's a creative community that a group of Fannibals have put together, and we're so excited to be holding our first fest :)
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter too! This small fight was necessary :P hahah


	13. Chapter 13

That week, Will had to combine his job as a _consultant_ for the FBI with the even harder task of shopping for a suit. Even though Hannibal’s birthday wasn’t for another month yet, the opera was that weekend, and the first dinner party Hannibal was organizing would be the following week. So he _really_ needed new clothes, and especially a proper suit.

He considered asking Hannibal for his help, but decided that he preferred the surprise, so he went alone. The first day, he rejected everything he tried on, and ended up giving up and returning to Wolf Trap even more tired than if he had spent the entire day exercising. But on the second day and in the third store he walked in, he finally found something he liked. He settled on a dark blue suit with a white shirt and a light blue, almost gray tie. He hesitated on whether to buy a vest or not, but ended up deciding that was more Hannibal’s style than his.

Will was afraid that The Chesapeake Ripper would choose that weekend to leave another body in Baltimore, another message. But to his satisfaction, the afternoon of Friday came with no new crime scenes, his phone blissfully quiet.

When it was time, he started getting dressed and discovered that the nervousness he had managed to keep at bay all week by keeping himself busy was now very much present, his fingers trembling a little while he tied his tie. He wasn’t nervous about going with Hannibal to the opera, per se - that was actually something he was looking forward - but about the rest of the people. Moreover, people that Hannibal _knew_ , even if they were just acquaintances, as he had called them. Those were people that knew who Hannibal was, that was a circle in which Hannibal had a reputation to uphold, people who would probably be invited to his dinner party… And Will was going to disrupt in that part of his life for the first time, with his impatience and his inability to stand these kinds of social events.

Will looked at himself in the mirror, fully dressed, and took a long breath, exhaling slowly. It didn’t matter how much he hated these people, how much he would hate it there; he was doing it for Hannibal, he _wanted_ this night to be perfect for him. And that meant behaving and being good company for him, and that was the only thing Will wanted for that night.

At that moment, he heard tires against the gravel of the driveway. Since Hannibal had wanted to pick him up - “ _Indulge me just this once, Will,_ ” Hannibal had asked, to which Will had just rolled his eyes and nodded, trying to hide his pleased smile - and they had agreed it would be easier to return to Hannibal’s house after the opera, Will had taken the dogs to a kennel that he knew, as he didn’t want to have to worry about leaving them alone for too long. So this time, Hannibal’s arrival wasn’t accompanied by the usual chorus of barks.

Will took his new overcoat from the drawer and a small bag he had packed for the night, and then went out. Once had locked the front door, he turned and held his breath for a second. Hannibal was out of his Bentley, as handsome as ever, neatly dressed in black and white, with a bowtie topping off his suit. And in one hand, he was holding a single flower out to him, the reddest rose Will had ever seen. He shook his head a little and chuckled as he went to him, his legs working almost on their own accord.

“ _Dr_. Lecter,” Will greeted once he was in front of him, smiling broadly.

“Officer Graham,” Hannibal played along, offering him the flower.

Will took it and rolled it between his thumb and index finger, noting that the stem didn’t have a single thorn.

“Technically I’m an agent now, so…”

“Oh, that’s completely true, I apologize,” Hannibal said, bowing his head to add a little drama. Will was certain he had done it on purpose. “ _Agent_ Graham.”

Will shook his head, but then he couldn’t stand still anymore. He wrapped his free arm around Hannibal’s shoulders and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. Hannibal’s scent filled his senses in an almost overwhelming but entirely pleasant way, and Hannibal held him tightly against him.

They had only seen each other a few times that week, since even though Will didn’t work as many hours now, he worked even farther away from Hannibal’s hospital. They had had lunch near Quantico once, and Will had managed to slip out of work early two days to go have dinner at Hannibal’s, even if both of them were tired from their respective jobs and Will had to return to Wolf Trap late in the night.

When Will got into the passenger’s seat after leaving the bag in the trunk, he turned to the rear seat to leave his coat there, and he couldn’t suppress a sly smile as Hannibal started to drive.

“You know, I hadn’t _really_ noticed the rear seats of your car before,” he said, letting the tone of his voice drop a little.

Hannibal looked into his rear mirror for a second before shifting his eyes to Will and then back to the road.

“What about them?”

“They are…” He chuckled again. “Hannibal, they’re ridiculously ample.”

And they were. Not only would _anyone_ , no matter how tall they were, be able to fit their legs with no problem at all, but it was actually _too_ spacious, making it difficult to reach the rear seats from the front ones.

“Maybe they’re so ample for a reason…” Hannibal said, raising his eyebrows.

Will pursed his lips, knowing Hannibal was half-joking, but picturing in his mind all the ways they could put those seats to good use.

They had dinner in a fancy restaurant that reminded Will of their first date, only this time he was far less nervous about being with Hannibal, and dressed more accordingly to the place. After that they went to the opera house.

Hannibal started to get recognized from the moment they walked in, all kinds of people getting close to them with fake smiles, greeting Hannibal and telling him how glad they were to finally see him back. Will tried to return the smiles to the faces that started blurring after the fifth person, and shake the hands that were offered to him under the question ‘ _And who’s this young gentleman…?_ ’. Will noticed how Hannibal hurried up the rest of the way until they entered the hall and found their seats, and right before the lights turned off, he murmured him a thank you to him, to which Hannibal simply nodded.

Will relaxed in his seat when the music started, and when Hannibal reached out to take his hand, he smiled and loosened the tension he had amassed in his shoulders, letting himself enjoy the performance.

But of course, when the intermission came, he knew that he would have to face even more people, and this time he didn’t have anywhere to hide, any excuse to avoid them. Will repeated to himself that he was doing this for Hannibal, and so he would endure it.

Hannibal led him to the lounge, where he took a champagne flute from a waiter and Will ordered a whiskey.

“What do you think so far?” Hannibal asked him, tilting his head while Will sipped from his glass.

“It’s interesting. I think I prefer the ballet, but certainly wouldn’t say no to repeating the experience.”

Hannibal smiled, pleased. “We shall go to the ballet someday, then.”

Will chuckled, and in that moment a man approached them and started chatting with Hannibal about the performance. Will tried to focus on the conversation, but when the man began to tell Hannibal almost the entirety of the opera’s plot, as if they hadn’t just seen it, his attention quickly drifted off. Will sipped his whisky and then he stared at the ceiling’s decorations, the walls, his own drink… anything but the people around them.

“And who is this young man?” a feminine voice brought him back to reality, and he turned to find that a woman had joined them, most probably the talkative man’s wife, judging by the way she leant against him.

Will forced himself to smile a little, and when the woman offered him her hand, he took it hesitantly and bowed his head slightly towards her, unsure of whether he was supposed to kiss her or just take her hand.

“Will Graham, pleased to meet you,” he said in an automatic tone.

“Will Graham,” the man repeated, narrowing his eyes. “I don’t remember seeing you around here before, but that name rings a bell.”

“Perhaps you’ve read about him in the newspaper,” Hannibal said then, a broad, proud smile on his lips. “He’s a criminal profiler, a _very_ good one, and he’s working with the FBI on the case of The Chesapeake Ripper, among others.”

Will smiled, this time sincerely at Hannibal’s praise, which caused the now familiar warm feeling to pool in his stomach.

“Yes, now that you mention it, that’s exactly right!” the man said, waving his index finger towards Will.

“Hannibal is exaggerating a bit, I’m actually just a consultant. But yes, I think a newspaper published something on the matter.”

“That is _so_ interesting,” the woman said, in a tone so artificial that Will didn’t even know if she was being honest or mocking him.

A call of ‘ _Dr. Lecter’_ interrupted the conversation, and Hannibal turned around gracefully to locate the voice owner. Will saw a man standing in a circle of people, gesturing Hannibal to join them. Hannibal looked back at the couple, probably to excuse both Will and himself. Before he could say anything, the woman then touched Hannibal’s forearm, and Will had to restrain himself from baring his teeth.

“Go, Dr. Lecter. We’ll take good care of Mr. Graham meanwhile.”

Hannibal looked at him, and much to his own regret, Will nodded and even smiled on instinct to encourage him to go alone, even though that was the last thing he wanted.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, raising his glass of whiskey as if to confirm it.

Will saw the slightest frown wrinkling Hannibal’s brow, and he seemed to hesitate for a moment. But then, he nodded once.

“Very well… I’ll be right back.”

Hannibal’s hand skimmed over Will’s lower back in a comforting touch before going to the man who was insistently waving at him. As soon as Hannibal left his side, Will felt the knot in his stomach tightening, and he wished for the seconds and minutes to go by quicker, for the intermission to be over so he wouldn’t have to share any more words with anyone else. Although as soon as they were alone, the woman smiled at him and tilted her head in a way that reminded Will to a snake. Will knew he wasn’t going to like whatever she was about to say before she opened her mouth.

“So… Tell us, how did you win Dr. Lecter’s heart?”

“Excuse me?” Will almost barked, a mix of rage and embarrassment flooding him.

“You must forgive my wife, sometimes she’s a little too blunt,” the husband said, chuckling, but Will knew he was equally interested in his wife’s question.

“You know, you’re everyone’s favorite topic of conversation tonight,” she said, looking with pretended furtiveness around them.

Will had been very focused mainly on Hannibal and his drink, but now he followed the woman’s gaze finally noticed the glances everyone was giving in their direction. He clenched his jaw and took a larger sip from his drink so as to have something to do. He wondered if the man who had called Hannibal would be questioning him about him too.

“I’m glad I’m giving everyone something to talk about…” Will muttered, not hiding his bitterness as well as he wanted to.

“You know, many people have tried to court the good doctor, but he has politely turned down almost everyone. And the ones that made it past the threshold of his house didn’t even stay for breakfast, if you know what I mean…”

Will thought that even a five year old would know what she meant, but he pursed his lips, swallowing that remark.

“So… how did you accomplish such a thing?”

Will closed his eyes and sighed through his nose at her insistence.

“I suppose it was my charming personality and outstanding hairstyle,” he said, letting the sarcasm taint his voice.

Both man and woman laughed as if he had actually made a joke, and she leaned closer and touched Will’s forearm. He tensed, fighting the need to take a step backwards. Just then, a familiar presence appeared beside him, once again placing a strong hand on his lower back. The movement pushed Will a little to the side, making the woman drop her hand from his arm. Will started breathing again, focusing on the place his and Hannibal’s bodies made contact, and making a mental note to thank him later.

“Oh, Dr. Lecter!” the man said, raising his glass towards him. “We were _just_ talking about you.”

“I hope all good things.”

“Of course!” the woman said, waving her hand. “We were just wondering how you and this young man met. You two make such a delightful pair.”

Hannibal looked at him with a genuine fond smile, and moved his hand a little to his side, giving him a gentle squeeze. Will understood that it was his way of saying he was sorry.

“The only way I could’ve met anyone in my busy line of work: he appeared in my operating room.”

“Oh, dear,” the woman said, putting her hand over her chest. “Nothing too severe, I hope!”

“Not at all, only a mild gunshot wound in the stomach,” Will said, and then he drained his glass in a big gulp before the perplexed faces of both the woman and man. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I need a refill.”

Will practically sprinted to the bar, dodging through the groups of people and receiving a couple of nudges along the way. Once he got to the bartender, he set the empty glass down and asked for another whisky. Double.

Will rested his elbows on the counter and ran a hand over his face, the regret already turning the knot in his stomach into a ball of anxiety.

“Will,” Hannibal’s voice said beside him. “Are you all right?”

He turned to Hannibal, and he let out a long sigh.

“I’m _so_ sorry…”

“What for?” Hannibal asked, frowning and leaving his flute of champagne on the counter.

“I was trying to behave properly, I promise, but I just… It doesn’t come naturally to me, and they- they just…”

Hannibal leaned towards him, pressing their shoulders together and bending his head closer to him.

“You have _nothing_ to apologize for, Will. Mr. and Mrs. Hall were being rude even before I left. I’m sure they certainly deserve more than a blunt answer.”

Will smiled a little, but still shook his head. “I’m not sorry for them, I’m sorry for _you_. I wanted to be decent company tonight, not ruin your reputation…”

Hannibal held his gaze for a long moment. It was only interrupted by the bartender leaving Will’s new glass of whiskey in front of him.

“You are more than decent company, Will,” Hannibal finally said. “And you have ruined nothing.”

Will snorted and took a sip from the new glass. The bell that announced that the intermission was over echoed through the lounge then, and Hannibal looked behind them to the people filing out into the main hall.

Will left his already half-empty glass on the counter and turned to follow them, but Hannibal touched his forearm to stop him.

“Will. Let’s go.”

“That’s… what I’m trying to do.”

Hannibal finally moved away from the counter, but he didn’t gesture towards the main hall entrance.

“No. I mean, let’s get out of here.”

“What? But the second act is-”

Hannibal leaned closer to him, his chest brushing against Will’s shoulder, and he whispered in his ear.

“I’ve seen this performance before and I can come back any time to see it again. But right now, what I want the most, is to get out of here… with you.”

Will _knew_ Hannibal was doing that mainly for him, because of how uncomfortable he was, but he also sensed the honesty in his voice. Will felt himself blushing, warmed by the man’s gesture. He couldn’t trust his voice in that moment, so he just nodded, and Hannibal answered with half a smile.

They slunk off by lingering in the room longer than anyone else, and then they made their way towards the exit, Hannibal nodding at the ushers who knitted their brows at seeing them leave before the opera was finished.

Once they were away from the theatre and inside Hannibal’s car, Will closed his eyes and let out a breath, only then realizing just how tense he had been, the muscles of his shoulders and neck finally beginning to relax. He stayed still for several minutes, letting the engine’s roar and Hannibal’s presence surround him. At some point, he opened his eyes and saw Hannibal looking at him from the corner of his eye, probably concerned.

“You’re still upset,” Hannibal said, breaking the silence. And once again, completely right in reading Will.

“With myself,” Will clarified, not wanting Hannibal to think his annoyance was directed at him. He sighed. “I wanted this night to be perfect. For you…”

“Will. It was.”

“ _How_ was this night perfect?” he asked, incredulous.

“It was perfect because you got us opera tickets. And you put on a nice suit, went to have dinner with me, stood in a room full of strangers –some of them very rude- and you endured it all… for me. Even though you didn’t have to.”

Will finally looked from the spot of the bodywork he had been staring at, and to Hannibal. He was glancing from the road to Will, and then he reached out his free hand to interlace their fingers. Will’s chest tightened, and he squeezed his hand a little before sighing again and relaxing completely against the seat.

When they arrived at Hannibal’s house shortly thereafter, the discomfort he had felt was already completely gone. But when he stepped inside, another feeling hit him like a wave, and he froze in the hallway. Hannibal turned around, Will’s bag in his hand.

“Are you all right?”

“No. I mean, yes,” he corrected himself, shaking his head. “I… I had this strange feeling, like… You know what, never mind.”

Hannibal retraced his steps and stopped before him, bowing his head so they were eye to eye.

“Will.”

It was just a word, his name, four letters. And still, Will smiled at hearing it from Hannibal’s lips.

“It’s just, I felt like I was... It’s stupid, but I’ve never…” He huffed out a laugh at his inability to express what he wanted to say. He decided to start with something simple. “Remember how I told you I moved a lot when I was a kid?” he asked, and Hannibal nodded without hesitation. “I never had a place I could call home, until… Until I bought my house a year ago. But right now, I just _felt_ that. The way I feel when I arrive home and I realize I have a place where I can go, where my dogs are waiting for me…”

Hannibal stayed very still, not even blinking. Will wrinkled his nose and shook his head again.

“I told you it was stupid, Hannibal, it’s just-”

“I love you.”

Will’s words died in his mouth, and he looked at him, frozen. He tried to open his mouth, say something, but it was like every sound had been punched out of his throat. Hannibal’s gaze travelled across his face, down the bridge of his nose, crossing over his lips and then returning to Will’s eyes, and Will could’ve sworn he had watery eyes. Hannibal swallowed, clenching his jaw, and then, when he cleared his throat, Will realized that he had been silent for far too long.

“I’m sorry. That was probably too much… Too soon,” Hannibal said, running his tongue across his lips.

“Hannibal-” Will said, finally finding his voice somehow.

“You don’t have to say anything, Will. Come, why don’t we go get changed, put on more comfortable clothes?”

Hannibal gave him a weak smile, and then turned around and went towards the stairs.

“I love you too.”

A wave of heat suddenly hit him, as he finally realized what was happening. Hannibal had just told him he loved him. Will had just told him the same. And it was true. Will _loved_ Hannibal, he loved him so much, he felt his stomach flipping when Hannibal stopped, frozen with just one foot on the first step of the stairs. Because that was exactly what he had felt at going into Hannibal’s house. It wasn’t the building or the rooms, of course. It was _Hannibal_ what had made him feel that way.

For a moment all he could see was Hannibal’s back, his muscles stretching the jacket of his suit when he inhaled, the only sign that he was still alive, still breathing. And then, he turned very slowly, and Will smiled. Hesitantly at first, and then widely.

“I love you,” he repeated, and he laughed. “I… I love you, Hannibal.”

Will’s bag hit the floor with a thump when Hannibal dropped it, and he went from the stairs to Will in a blink, moving so swiftly that Will’s mind didn’t register it until the man pushed him to the hallway wall and pressed him against it with a hand on each of Will’s sides, and his forehead against his. Will’s eyes closed and he reached out to Hannibal’s jacket and fisted the material in his hands, trembling at the feeling of Hannibal’s breath against him. He laughed again, because how could he _not_ laugh, when he had just realized he was actually in love. Not in the way he had briefly liked the few people he had let into his life, and not even in the way he had fantasized he would feel some day, before telling himself that someone like him was better off alone. This was a blazing, overwhelming feeling, and now that Will had realized it, he never wanted to feel anything else.

“I love you,” Will whispered once again, addicted to the way the words tasted in his mouth. He pushed Hannibal back slightly so he was be able to meet his eyes. “I don’t care if it’s too soon, I don’t care if we’ve only known each other for a few months… I don’t care.”

“Me neither,” Hannibal said, speaking for the first time since Will’s confession had silenced him. “I’ve known for a while, but I was afraid I would frighten you.”

Will shook his head, and then he pulled Hannibal closer to kiss him hungrily. He had wanted to do that all night, but had restrained himself at the opera. But now, Will crushed his mouth into the other’s, made Hannibal part his lips with his tongue, and licked into his mouth as if they hadn’t seen each other in weeks. Hannibal growled as he sucked at Will’s upper lip and that set Will alight, so he pushed him away with both hands and towards the opposite wall. Will caged Hannibal and pressed his thigh against his groin, which rewarded him with another beautiful sound out of Hannibal’s mouth. They stilled, both of them panting and looking at each other.

“Will… I want to try something different,” Hannibal said then.

“Again?” Will asked, raising his eyebrows, referring to the _experiment_ they had done the week before.

“Not quite like that, but yes,” Hannibal leaned in and pressed his cheek to Will’s, whispering into his ear. “I want you inside me.”

Will moved back, looking at him between ragged breaths.

“What?” he asked, and Hannibal’s brow knitted.

“You don’t want to?”

“No, I- I do. I just… I thought you wouldn’t.”

Hannibal smiled again, and he shook his head. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know…”

Hannibal smiled again and he cupped Will’s face.

“Never keep something to yourself because you think I’m not going to like or agree with it.”

“All right…” Will nodded, smiling too.

“And I very much want to. Seeing you on top of me the other day… You were so beautiful, Will, you have no idea.”

That made Will’s cock twitch in his slacks, and he almost moaned.

“Let’s… let’s go. Upstairs,” he almost commanded, light-headed with the image in his head of what Hannibal was proposing.

Hannibal grinned, and then he propelled himself forwards, pulling Will into a kiss as they made their way upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I'm updating today, and not on Friday or Saturday because this weekend we're holding the #[DrunkenKissesChallenge](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/post/145876934184/challenge-announcement) in [Hannibal Creative](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/) (join us!!), and I'll be publishing a fic :)
> 
> * The bit about Hannibal's car... It's totally true. I made research about Hannibal's bentley, and the rear seats are REALLY spacious (look at [this picture](http://www.roadsmile.com/images/bentley-arnage_key_1.jpg)!). I don't know if that's custom made, but I thought it would be fitting for Hannibal to have a car with space in the rear seats... for extracurricular activities ;)
> 
> * YES, I'm so sorry for leaving it -there-, but the next scene got out of control, so... It didn't fit into a single chapter xD.
> 
> Thanks once again for the support!! Your comments, kudos, tweets, etc, give me life♥


	14. Chapter 14

Will groaned softly as he threw his suit jacket backwards, hearing it fall somewhere between where he was standing and the chaise lounge. But he didn’t avert his eyes, and neither did Hannibal. The man raised his hands to start undressing, but Will shook his head, and Hannibal’s fingers stilled immediately.

“Let me.”

Hannibal’s lips turned upwards as Will approached him and undid the single button of Hannibal’s jacket. He circled the man to take the garment off his shoulders, and then went to the chaise lounge, where his own jacket was rumpled. Will folded it and left it carefully before turning around to take his shirt off. He did it slowly, button by button, and Hannibal watched from the center of his bedroom, hands at his sides, chest raising and falling as he breathed, lips parted and reddened, eyes dark and hungry. It was taking Will all his self-control not to rip all the buttons of his shirt at once, not to undress hastily and crush his body against Hannibal’s. But he wanted, _needed_ to take his time, to make it last… And Hannibal seemed to have the same plan, because as Will let his shirt slide from his arms and fall on the chair, he didn’t move a muscle, only his eyes shifting to travel down his naked torso.

When Will had taken off his pants and shoes too he finally returned to Hannibal, going to stand behind him. He circled the man’s chest and began unbuttoning his white shirt from behind, applying the same pace he had used with his own. Will felt Hannibal’s breathing quicken, his body leaning backwards, chasing the contact against Will’s chest. His head also tilted ever so slightly, enough so Will could nuzzle the spot behind Hannibal’s ear while he kept working the buttons, his breath hitting Hannibal’s skin and evoking a soft groan out of Hannibal’s throat. Will finally made it to the last of the buttons, moving back just enough so he could slip the shirt away and to the floor, not able to hold himself back any longer and pause to fold it with the vision of Hannibal’s back presented to him. Will raised a hand and pressed all five fingers right between the man’s shoulder blades. The muscles rippled under his touch, Hannibal’s breathing growing heavier when Will dragged his hand down to his lower back until he reached the belt, where he hooked his thumb. Will leaned in and pressed his mouth in Hannibal’s shoulder, only to sink his teeth into skin and muscle. Hannibal half gasped, half moaned at Will’s sudden bite, and one of his hands reached out to Will’s hips, where he grabbed and pulled him closer until Will’s hips were against the curve of Hannibal’s ass. Considering this Hannibal’s permission Will bit even harder, enough to leave a mark for a few days, enough to draw a drop of blood that Will lapped up in a slow lick, the copper taste filling his mouth. Hannibal dropped his head against Will’s cheek and turned to him. Their lips brushed, their breaths blending, but Will didn’t kiss him yet, and Hannibal didn’t lean in either. Instead, Will mouthed against Hannibal’s chin and then below his jaw, feeling the slight stubble. His lips skimmed across his Adam’s apple and reached the hollow above his collarbones, where he sucked and licked leisurely, with no intention at all except to feel the skin between his lips and teeth. He only stopped when he heard Hannibal’s moan, which sent a new wave of pleasure down his spine and reminded him of his own erection, pressed against his boxers and Hannibal’s clothed ass.

“Tell me again,” Will whispered when he pulled back, looking at Hannibal’s throat bared for him as the other opened his eyes.

He circled Hannibal to stand in front of him, and then he knelt down before the other could speak a word. His eyes didn’t leave Hannibal’s when he grabbed the buckle of his belt, nor did Hannibal look away when Will started undoing the button of his slacks.

“I love you,” Hannibal finally acquiesced to Will’s request with a whisper.

Will smiled and let the other’s pants slide down. Then he _did_ avert his eyes, burying his face in Hannibal’s stomach, beside his hipbone. Will inhaled deep, taking in the mix of scents: Hannibal’s soap, his cologne, but above everything, his musky, natural scent that made Will moan against the man’s belly. He moved back to pull Hannibal’s dark blue boxers down, at an achingly slow pace that made Hannibal writhe even with the man’s self-control. Will finally let the last piece of clothing fall, and he took off both the pants and underwear from around his ankles, along with socks and shoes. Then, without any further warning, he grabbed Hannibal’s hipbone with a hand, and his cock with the other. Hannibal groaned hoarsely as Will leaned in and licked from root to head, pulling back the foreskin and closing his lips around the head to take the leaking precome. Will wanted to take him whole, hear Hannibal moan his name and make him squirm with his mouth. But as much as Will loved doing that, he instead pulled back and stood up, dragging both hands up Hannibal’s stomach, across the hair of his chest, and grabbed him by the nape to pull him closer.

They looked into each other’s eyes for a second, and then Will brushed Hannibal’s lips with his own, the sound of their ragged breaths the only thing that could be heard in the room, in the house, in their entire world. Finally, he closed the distance. He kissed Hannibal as if it was their first kiss in a really long time, despite having just done it downstairs. He kissed him with just lips at first, parting them only when he felt Hannibal’s fingers slide across his waist, settling on his lower back to pull him a little closer. He felt Hannibal’s erection against his clothed own, and he gripped Hannibal’s hair in response, tugging slightly while their tongues danced together.

Will was the one to break the kiss so he could catch his breath, and he gave Hannibal a lewd smile before giving him a quick kiss on the corner of his lip and moving back. He took Hannibal’s hand and guided him to the bed, and then nodded towards it.

“Lay down,” he said. Hannibal smirked at his authoritarian tone, but didn’t hesitate for a second before climbing the bed’s platform.

Will went into the bathroom while Hannibal made himself comfortable and he went straight to one of the drawers, where he knew Hannibal kept a new lube, different from the one they usually used in his nightstand. They had only used this one once, and Will had found the sensation amazing, so he took the jar and returned to the bedroom, Hannibal already elegantly sprawled over the mattress, propped up on his elbows with a smile on his lips. Will returned the grin, and he didn’t waste any more time before taking his own underwear off, climbing on the bed and crawling over him. Hannibal received Will craning his head to capture his lips and Will indulged him happily, feeling Hannibal’s knees at his sides and his chest hair brushing his skin. Will swayed his hips and achieved what he was looking for: their now free erections grazed against each other, and Will broke the kiss to moan against Hannibal’s neck. He left the jar of lube on the mattress and dragged his hands across Hannibal’s torso, stopping over his breastbone to push him down. Hannibal complied, lying down completely under him.

“Do you want me to turn around?” Hannibal asked. Will shook his head, his hair falling over his forehead.

“No,” he said, his hand climbing higher up to his neck, where he loosely wrapped his fingers exactly like Hannibal had done with him other times, feeling his Adam’s apple bobbing beneath his palm and his pulse beating against his thumb.

Will trailed a path of open-mouthed kisses down Hannibal’s body, starting at his shoulder, descending to the broad expanse of his chest and to his heaving stomach, outlining the shape of his ribs and down to his waist, where he nipped at the jutting hipbone before pulling back to sit on his heels. Hannibal handed him the jar before Will even had to ask for it, and looked at him as he opened it.

“Have you ever done this?”

“Being the bottom?” Hannibal asked with a playful smile, and Will nodded. “Once. Years ago.”

Will smiled warmly then at hearing the confirmation of what he had thought: once again, Hannibal was doing something he wouldn’t have done if it weren’t because it was with Will. Not because he wanted to indulge Will, but because he truly wanted to do this _with_ him.

“Okay… I’ll go slow,” Will said, bending over to press a kiss on Hannibal’s lips.

He then took a fair amount of lube, and Hannibal bent his knees and shifted his hips before Will reached out between his legs. When the liquid first touched him, Hannibal swallowed and nodded, and Will grabbed his calf. He started massaging and circling the tight muscle, as Hannibal had done so many times with him, and as he himself had done with a couple of men, although not as lovingly as he was doing it right now. When he pressed the first finger in, very slowly, Hannibal dropped his head backwards and Will felt the muscle tighten against the intrusion. He reached out and cupped Hannibal’s cheek with his free hand, his thumb tracing the hard line of his cheekbone, and the man opened his eyes and let out a long breath. Will felt Hannibal relaxing, so he pressed slowly inside him as he leaned in to kiss Hannibal’s jaw and neck. Only when Hannibal had become completely used to him did Will add more lube and a second finger. That was welcomed by a soft groan, and Hannibal’s hands, which had been clutching the sheets, finally moved. He buried his fingers in Will’s hair, grabbing his damp curls and bringing Will’s mouth to his, demanding a kiss that he gave him, both of their breaths growing heavier as Will started moving his fingers in and out and scissoring them before adding a third one. Finally, when Will crooked his fingers and reached what he was looking for, Hannibal arched and moaned against Will’s lips, his fingers sinking deeper into his nape and hip, bringing him closer. Will smiled and nipped at his lower lip as he brushed the spot once again.

“Will, that’s… enough,” Hannibal said in between pants.

Will kissed him again as he withdrew his fingers. He reached for the bedside table to grab a condom, then straightened to put it on and add more lube to both Hannibal and him. When he bent down again between Hannibal’s legs, he brushed his thumb over his cheekbones. Hannibal cupped his nape and after staring into each other’s eyes for a long moment, he nodded.

Will aligned himself and, painstakingly slowly, started pushing in. Hannibal groaned and tensed again, resting his free hand on Will’s hip. He pressed his mouth above Hannibal’s pulse, breathing against him and moving ever so slightly. But in that moment Hannibal sank his fingers into the skin of his hip and pulled him closer, thrusting Will into himself. They moaned in unison, Will seeking Hannibal’s lips again as he stilled, completely buried inside him.

“Tell me again…” he asked Hannibal in between kisses, out of breath.

Hannibal gripped his hair tighter and all Will could feel was Hannibal, Hannibal, Hannibal. Hannibal surrounding him, Hannibal’s hands on him, Hannibal’s chest against him and his untouched cock trapped between their bodies, leaking and pulsing against Will’s stomach.

“I love you, Will.”

Hannibal whispered those hoarse words in his ear, and Will groaned as he finally started rocking his hips.

“I love you too, Hannibal.”

Will straightened and supported himself on his hands to be able to look at him again, and he saw the faint smile in Hannibal’s lips. Will smiled too as he pulled back and thrust in again, and Hannibal bared his teeth as he groaned.

“Harder,” he demanded, and Will’s smile widened.

Will complied as he dragged a hand between their bodies, circling Hannibal’s erection, and he started moving his fingers at his hip’s pace. Their lips crashed together again in a mayhem of teeth and tongues, of demanding fingers that sank into each other’s skin. Quicker, harder, slower, more.

When Will felt the pleasure coiling in his stomach, he straightened and grabbed Hannibal’s thighs as he thrust deeper, the sound of skin slapping against skin and the myriad of sensations making him growl as he sank himself inside Hannibal, inside the man he loved, the man whose existence seemed impossible and yet too real. Hannibal’s hand replaced Will’s around his own cock and dropped his head backwards with a groan.

Will cried out, bending over and burying his face in the crook of Hannibal’s neck as he came, and rode his orgasm until Hannibal followed suit, moaning loudly while release and sweat mixed between their stomachs.

After a few seconds in which the only sound in the room once again was their breaths, Will finally pulled out and back, and they looked at each other until Will laughed. A laugh of pure joy, pure bliss that shook his body as he pressed his forehead against Hannibal’s without any other intention than to keep feeling the man as close as he could.

When he was able to move, he did as Hannibal always did, throwing the condom out and taking a towel from the bathroom to clean their mess. Then, he returned to bed and threw himself over Hannibal, limbs tangled and arms reaching out to wrap around the other. Will stroked his thumb over the mark his teeth had left before in Hannibal’s skin, and he kissed it softly before dropping his head on his chest.

“I love you…” Will whispered once more, because he wanted to. Because he could.

He felt Hannibal’s fingers caressing the back of his head, brushing his curls back as the fingers of his other hand caressed the arm draped across his stomach.

“I love you, too.”

He fell asleep listening to Hannibal’s heartbeat, a constant and peaceful melody.

****

After spending the weekend at Hannibal’s house, getting out of bed only to eat when they needed it, Will returned to reality when the Ripper left a new body on Tuesday.

Will gasped and opened his eyes, looking around as the recreation in his mind faded easily, as it always did when it was the Ripper’s scenes; he was in the victim’s study, with the body displayed right in front of him.

“It’s him again, isn’t it?” Davis’ voice asked him from behind.

Will tensed and bowed his head so he could see the agent out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t turn around. He wondered how much time the man had been there, observing while Will recreated the murder in his mind. In that moment, the door opened and Agent Cruz froze at the door, looking at Davis with a frown, and then at Will. She finally came in and tilted her head a little, a way of asking him the same question Davis had voiced.

“Yes,” Will answered simply.

“Why does this suddenly look like the work of a vigilante?” Davis asked to no one in particular. “A pedophile that wasn’t convicted killed at the hands of the Ripper. What, is he suddenly growing a conscience?”

Will stayed silent, because he didn’t think the Ripper had killed this man because of his past crimes. But once again, this killer kept doing the unpredictable. He was not, in any way, like any killer Will had encountered before. He looked again at the lifeless, gouged out eyes of the victim, and then lowered his gaze to the cut off hands, displayed on the man’s lap. The rest of the body was seated in the armchair as if he was taking a short nap, as if nothing had happened to him.

“I don’t get it…” Davis said, walking past Will as he looked at the victim too. “There must be some sort of connection, something that ties all the victims.”

“There isn’t.”

Both agents turned their heads to him, and Davis even raised an eyebrow, demanding an explanation. Will looked down, and he wished he had a pair of glasses so he could put them on in that moment so as to not to look directly at the agents. He used to wear them when he was a teenager, a means to shield himself from everyone else, but he had stopped when he had begun working as a cop.

“There’s nothing that links the victims. That’s why he’s so hard to catch… to understand. It’s perfect.”

Will hadn’t meant to use that tone of awe, but only when he stopped talking did he fully realize his words. He cleared his throat, feeling the gazes of both agents fixed on him.

“He… might not even kill the same way always. He loves making a show, but he’s able to adapt and change his method if he needs to,” Will said, and he pursed his lips.

The Ripper had spent three years silent, waiting in the shadows… But now it became clear that he might just have changed the way he had killed during that time. Maybe even not displaying his victims…

“A serial killer that doesn’t follow his own pattern… Fantastic,” Cruz said, looking at the victim with her arms akimbo.

After a few more questions, Will excused himself and left the crime scene making a beeline for his car and not returning the curious looks of the neighbors that were surrounding the house. Only once he was inside his car, did he let out the long sigh he had been holding.

****

“You _didn’t_.”

“I… I did.”

Will took one of his fries and dipped it in the ketchup. Most of his meals were with Hannibal now, either at restaurants, when they didn’t have enough time, or at his house. So when he chewed the delicious and greasy food, he realized he actually missed having terrible things like that, although not enough to swap them.

“You guys already said _I love you_ to each other?!” Beverly almost screamed, and Will looked around, feeling the sudden heat coloring his cheeks.

“Could you please not broadcast it? I don’t think that guy in the back is very interested in my love life.”

“But that is _huge_ , Will! Congratulations, you’re married!”

Will put another of his fries down with a loud snort that turned into a chuckle. “See why I don’t tell you things?”

The waitress appeared in that moment to refill their glasses of water, and Will thanked her with a nod. He took the glass immediately while Beverly smirked once again and flicked him on the arm.

“So let me get this straight- Well. You know what I mean,” she said. Will rolled his eyes. “You hook up with your doctor, who is _insanely_ hot and who is perfect, judging by what you’ve told me… And then you tell him you love him _this_ soon, and he doesn’t run away scared?”

“Well, not exactly. _He_ said it to me first. And I stood there frozen like an idiot while he even apologized.” Will groaned, remembering the moment.

Beverly shook her head with a faked serious expression, and he shrugged. “I hate you so much, Graham.”

Will smiled and took a bite of his burger. It was probably one of the worst burgers he had ever had… That, or eating Hannibal’s food was spoiling his palate. Either way, he took another bite while Beverly attacked her own.

“Well…” she said after swallowing the bite down with a sip of her coke. “Since I have to almost beg you to tell me _anything_ about your love life, _I_ will let you know that I have a date tonight.”  


Will paused with the burger halfway to his mouth, and then left it on the plate with a grin.

“You do?”

“Uh-hum.”

“And?”

It was Will’s turn to raise his eyebrows while Beverly took a couple of her fries and dipped them in the sauce before chewing them slowly. He waited patiently as she tortured him, but when she was about to take another fry, he smacked her hand, throwing the food back onto the plate.

“Beverly Katz, tell me right now. Who’s the date with?”

“Well… don’t panic,” she said, raising one of her hands. “But it’s with Silvia.”

“Silvia? Who-” he started asking, but then he realized who she meant. “Silvia _Cruz_?”

“Yeah!”

“Bev!” he groaned, leaning backwards in the booth.

“What? Only you can have dates?”

Will rolled his eyes again, but he shook his head.

“Are you sure it’s… a good idea? I mean, if you start working in the FBI’s lab…”

“I checked. She’s not my boss, we’re not even in the same department.”

“Yeah, well, technically she’s not my boss, either, but…”

He stopped talking when he saw the annoyed, yet amused expression on Beverly’s face.

“Can’t you just wish me good luck, Graham?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Sure, sorry… Good luck, Bev.”

He raised his glass of coke with a contained smile, and they drank a toast before continuing the familiar and easy banter as they ate their burgers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I had to cut the last chapter _there_ , but finally, here's the continuation! Hope the wait was worth it :P (and I was really looking forward to writing bottom!Hannibal here!)
> 
> Also, next week is #[SpacedogsSummer](http://hannibalcreative.tumblr.com/post/146267759919/join-us-in-spacedogssummer-what-is), so there probably wont' be an update during the fest, since I'll be pushing yet another fic (my first Spacedogs!!).
> 
> I published two and a half fics for #DrunkenKissesChallenge in case you want to read them: [Only Fools Rush In](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7248985), [I wanna be yours](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7231174/chapters/16415164), and a collaboration in [Stages of Pursuit](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7231513).
> 
> Thanks for reading and your kind, lovely comments!!!!<333


	15. Chapter 15

“Doctor. The file for tomorrow’s surgery.”

Hannibal turned and took the file the nurse was offering him. He nodded and thanked the young man, and then he took a look inside. He had been waiting to see this file, and now that he had it, he couldn’t stop a little smile from springing to his lips.

“Excuse me, Dr. Lecter?”

A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts, and he turned to find Will standing in the hospital’s hallway. He tilted his head with curiosity, since they had arranged to meet at the hospital to go eat lunch, but Will usually waited for him in the parking lot. Not to mention, he had a serious expression, and was addressing him formally. But he decided to play along with whatever Will was doing, and he nodded.

“Yes… that’s me,” he answered, unsure of where this was going.

Will moved the jacket aside to reveal his badge, hanging on his hip.

“Special Agent Will Graham with the FBI. Could I have a word, please…?”

For a moment, Hannibal was frozen where he stood. It was merely a second, but the notion of this being real, of Will coming to his work to arrest him, left him paralyzed. But then he saw Will’s lips trembling, fighting a smile, and so he let out a silent sigh.

“Of course.”

“In private,” Will added, and Hannibal nodded.

“This way, _Agent_.”

Hannibal guided Will down the hallway that led to his office, and when he opened the door, he invited him in with a gesture. Will walked in and stood in the center of the office, hands laced behind his back as he looked around. Exactly as if he had never been there before, as if this were the very first time he had visited Hannibal in the hospital. Hannibal smiled, but quickly collected himself, clearing his throat and closing the door after following Will inside.

“So, what can I help you with, Agent?”

“I think I’ll be the one asking the questions here, don’t you think?” Will said, turning around.

Hannibal nodded again. “Of course. Please, take a seat.”

Will shook his head and stepped aside to cut off Hannibal’s path to his chair right when he was about to circle the desk. Will was suddenly very close, and Hannibal couldn’t help but to smirk as the other looked up at him between his eyelashes.

“I won’t stay that long, Dr. Lecter.”

“Very well.”

Will then pressed a hand flat on Hannibal’s chest and pushed him until he hit the wall with his back, right next to the door.

“Is this the normal procedure for an interrogation, _Agent_?” Hannibal asked, not able to help himself.

“Who said this was an interrogation…?” Will said this with a frown, though his smile was still visible in his eyes. “But answering your first question, _Doctor_ , you may be able to help me with something…”

Will leaned in and his lips skimmed over Hannibal’s, merely brushing against them. Will suddenly laughed and dropped his head on Hannibal’s chest, his entire body shaking.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” Will said, pulling back to look at him.

Hannibal grinned and shook his head.

“I think we can rule out roleplaying for the future, then.”

Will’s smile widened as he nodded in agreement. He took the lapels of Hannibal’s white coat and pulled him closer to kiss him. Hannibal wrapped both arms around the small of Will’s back, and hummed against the other’s lips. When he moved back, he took Will’s chin with his free hand and pressed a quick kiss to the bridge of his nose before loosening his hold around him and going to his desk.

“I’m sorry for this. I arrived early and I just… I thought it would be sexy,” Will said, biting his lower lip.

“It was,” Hannibal said, again opening the file he still had in his hand to make sure there was nothing missing. Will looked at him in disbelief. “It’s a shame you didn’t have your uniform, though.”

Will narrowed his eyes, but he smiled. Then nodded towards his hand.

“A patient’s file?”

“Yes. The surgery I have tomorrow morning.”

Hannibal looked over the file again. A middle-aged man who didn’t take care of himself, in a very critical state, who needed a very common but still dangerous surgery. Exactly what Hannibal needed. And to top it all off, he had been _terribly_ rude when Hannibal had met him the day before, grumping and treating his wife rather poorly. He left the file on his desk and looked up at Will with a wide smile as he took off his white coat.

“Shall we?”

****

Hannibal opened the door of his house to let Will in, then quickly turned around, hiding his face from him.

“Hey!” Will greeted.

Hannibal heard him walk in and close the door as he made his way down the hallway.

“I’m sorry I’m late. A jerk almost crashed his car into mine on my way over. He ran a stop sign, and then he honked and yelled at me, to top it off. The fucker…”

Hannibal raised his head slightly, tempted to answer him, but he quickly rectified his mistake, bowing his head again. He had to focus on playing his part.

He went into the library, where he had been waiting for Will, and sat on the couch with a sigh. He saw Will leave his jacket on the back of the couch before circling it to face him. And then, Hannibal finally looked up, letting Will see him for the first time. Will’s face changed immediately, the concern clear in his expression.

“Hannibal, are you okay? You sounded a little off over the phone, but-”

“I killed a person today,” Hannibal let out, interrupting him.

Will’s brow twitched. Frozen, he observed Hannibal for a second before moving towards him and sitting beside him in careful and slow movements.

“What?” he asked in a low voice, tilting his head to hold Hannibal’s lowered gaze.

“I…” Hannibal started, but he pursed his lips and leaned backwards against the couch’s cushions. “The surgery I had to perform. A simple bypass, something I’ve done many times before.”

“Hannibal…”

“I made a mistake, and I killed him.”

Will closed his eyes for a moment, and Hannibal let the pain he truly felt flow into the surface.

Will was getting so, _so_ close, but not the way Hannibal needed him to. Will wasn’t ready yet to see Hannibal clearly, not before understanding that deep down he and the Ripper were just alike. So he had decided he had to do something to redirect his focus, and a human error like this was perfect. But Hannibal had killed a person, and to do that, he had had to damage his medical reputation; the man’s state was critical and there wasn’t a very high chance that the surgery would be successful. Still, Hannibal knew he could’ve performed the surgery perfectly. And there was also the fact that the man’s life had been wasted, going from the operating room straight to a morgue. Tasteless. Not something he would’ve done if he could’ve helped it.

Will moved closer to him on the couch, their knees touching, and took Hannibal’s right hand in his, enclosing it between his warm fingers.

“Hannibal, you didn’t kill-” He cut himself off. “I’m sure you tried to do everything in your power.”

“I did, but-”

“Then you have _nothing_ to blame yourself for.”

Hannibal stayed still, staring at the dancing flames in the fireplace, tears in the back of his eyes. Will squeezed his hand and so Hannibal turned to look at him.

“I apologize, I… I’ve lost a few patients before, but their conditions were far worse. But this…”

A single tear streamed down his cheek, and Will pulled him closer. He let his head fall on Will’s shoulder, and Will cradled his head with a hand, burying his fingers in his hair and holding him against him.

“I’m so sorry, Hannibal…”

He nuzzled into Will’s neck and wrapped both arms around his waist, and the other answered by tightening his embrace.

He could feel Will’s love and concern flowing towards him, surrounding him like a blanket, and so Hannibal smiled slightly now that Will couldn’t see him.

They stayed like that for a long time, Hannibal breathing in Will’s scent and listening to his heartbeats, Will weaving his fingers through Hannibal’s hair in soft, comforting movements. Hannibal would’ve gladly fallen asleep, but there were things to discuss, so he finally moved, raising his head and looking at Will through weary, heavy-lidded eyes.

“I’m going to hand in my resignation,” he said, and Will straightened to meet his gaze.

“Hannibal, are you sure…?”

“Yes. You know I wanted to switch careers sooner or later anyway. And after this… It’s time.”

Will nodded, and this time Hannibal was the one to lace their fingers together, sighing.

“Will you stay here tonight? With me?” he asked in a hopeful tone, at which Will smiled.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Will leaned closer, and when Hannibal felt Will’s lips over his, it was in a light touch, Will pecking Hannibal’s bottom lip in a way that made Hannibal want to lean in and kiss him until both of their lips were reddened. But he held himself back, and returned Will’s smile sincerely when he opened his eyes again.

“Don’t be horrified by what I’m about to say, but…” Will shifted on the couch to align his body to Hannibal. “How about we order takeout for once?”

Hannibal raised his eyebrows and broadened his smile before nodding. “All right. _For once_.”

Will leaned in again to kiss him on the cheek before standing up and taking his phone out of his pocket, browsing for the place he would call.

****

The next morning, Will called Beverly to check on his dogs, since he had asked her the night before to swing by his house and take a look at them. Since it was Christmas, he didn’t have to call Quantico, but he still checked his messages, and sighed with relief at finding none. Then he went back to the bedroom, where he had left Hannibal, but the man wasn’t there anymore. He put on one of Hannibal’s sweaters and pajama pants - tying them to make up for the difference in size between them - since he only had the clothes in which he had arrived the day before, and then went out to look for him. He passed two empty guest rooms and the main bathroom before finding him in a sort of office. He had only been in this room once before, when Hannibal had given him a tour of his house even though Will had joked that he had already seen the most important rooms, to which Hannibal had given him a smirk.

The office was full of books, but they were very different than the books in the _library_ downstairs; they were all medical books, both related to medicine and psychology. Hannibal was seated behind the perfectly organized mahogany desk looking at some papers and with a hand over the phone’s receiver.

“Hey,” Will said, standing at the threshold.

Hannibal looked up and smiled, but Will knew that was not his usual smile. It was dimmer and weaker, even if the gesture itself was almost the same.

“Hey,” Hannibal imitated him. “I’m… I have to call the catering and everyone invited to the dinner party.”

Will opened and then closed his mouth, and he sighed. He had completely forgotten about the dinner party what with the previous day’s events. It was supposed to be the following day, but it was natural that Hannibal wasn’t in the mood to host a dinner party in only a day.

“You’re going to cancel it, right?”

Hannibal nodded slightly. “Cancelling just a day before is not the right thing to do, but… The alternative is not being the best host I can be, and that’s even more unbearable.”

Will went into the room and circled the desk, leaning against it next to Hannibal. The other looked up at him from the chair, and Will put his hand over one of Hannibal’s, covering it.

“Please, do not worry too much about that?” he asked him, but knowing this would probably be hard for Hannibal; cancelling a party that he had been so looking forward to throwing. “You have enough to worry about already, without also worrying about what these people might think of you or something like that.”

Hannibal’s smile widened by just a fraction, and he shook his head.

“I already told you, Will, I don’t care what these people think of me.”

He squeezed Hannibal’s hand in his, and the other raised a hand to grab at his own sweater that Will was wearing and pull him down until their lips met. Will held onto Hannibal’s nape so he wouldn’t fall forwards off the desk, and he was pleasantly surprised when he felt Hannibal’s tongue licking his lips and then slipping into his mouth as he parted his lips with a little sound he couldn’t help. When Hannibal pulled back, Will swallowed and tried to pull himself together, having been caught off-guard.

After dinner the day before, they had gone to bed with Will hugging Hannibal tightly from behind, wishing that his presence was enough for Hannibal to feel better despite the situation. But this kiss wasn’t one to lead to cuddles in bed, exactly, and so Will cleared his throat, taken aback but completely delighted.

“I… Uh… Why don’t I go make us something for breakfast while you make the calls? That is, _if_ you trust me in your kitchen.”

“Of course I do.” Hannibal nodded. “You have everything you could need there, prepare anything you want. I’ll be down in a while.”

Will nodded, and he leaned in to kiss Hannibal once more, this time just brushing their lips together before Hannibal released his grip on Will’s sweater and he stood up, leaving the office.

They spent that day in a quiet calm. They had previously decided they wouldn’t celebrate Christmas, and with what had happened, they prepared together a simpler meal than what Hannibal was used to, and spent their time reading and nodding off on the library’s couch.

****

Chopin’s music reached them from the speakers in the hallway, and it was so soothing, Will feared for a moment that he would fall asleep. He stirred a little, moving Hannibal with him and creating small waves in the water.

Usually, when they shared a shower, it was in the shower of Hannibal’s en suite bathroom. But they had decided to begin this Saturday in the big bathtub of the other bathroom, Hannibal’s entire body lying on top of Will, his back against Will’s chest. He had one hand draped over Hannibal’s chest, and he was caressing Hannibal’s hair with the other, the dry, silky locks sliding among Will’s fingers like water.

“I think I’ve been too selfish, Will,” Hannibal said then, taking Will slightly out of his drowsiness.

Will licked his lips and moved one of his legs slightly under the water, brushing against Hannibal’s thigh.

“Why is that?”

“You’ve been amazing at being with me in this difficult moment… But I haven’t even asked you how you are, or how things were at work this week.”

Will smiled tiredly at his words, and he did open his eyes now, tightening his hold over Hannibal’s chest.

“There’s been another body from the Ripper.”

Will hadn’t told him anything when they had met to eat lunch, not wanting to monopolize the conversation when they had so little time together. But now Hannibal was asking, and Will always found talking about that with him comforting and clarifying, for some reason.

“And still no developments?”

Will’s smile faded as he sighed. He stilled the fingers buried in Hannibal’s ashen hair.

“I really don’t know. I still wish I could understand him completely.”

“To catch him?”

“What?”

“You always say you want to understand him. So you can catch him, or just merely to be able to… _see_ him, as you said he craved?”

Hannibal’s question caught him off-guard, and Will stayed still, only the water around them moving.

“I… yes. I guess. Of course,” he said, in a not too convincing tone that he hoped Hannibal didn’t catch.

The truth was, Will realized with a flip of his stomach, that he hadn’t even thought about it. The first thing he thought whenever he was working on a case, was about the best way to stop the killers. With The Chesapeake Ripper, he hadn’t even thought that yet. His only and main concern had been trying to figure him out, and the realization left an uneasy feeling inside him. What did _that_ say about him…?

“Anyway… It doesn’t matter, because catching this killer seems an almost impossible thing unless I _do_ understand him. And sometimes I think…” he said, but then he sighed and shook his head. “It’s foolish, actually.”

Hannibal moved for the first time, turning a little and craning his neck to meet Will’s eyes. Will’s fingers dropped from the crown of his head to his shoulder.

“Do you remember the deal we made when you joined the FBI?” he asked. Will smiled, his eyes fixed on the little droplets running down Hannibal’s neck.

“I do.”

“Then let me be your paddle, Will.”

Will swallowed and nodded, biting his lower lip.

“It’s just… Sometimes, when I’m in one of the crime scenes, I feel like… like I see him too well. Even if I don’t understand everything yet.”

“Like you can see the picture, but only a small piece?” Hannibal asked.

“Yes. Exactly like that. And…”

Hannibal waited for a few seconds, observing him with patience until Will pursed his lips and shook his head.

“And?” Hannibal asked then, encouraging him to keep going.

“ _This_ is the foolish thing. Sometimes I feel like… like he is sending the messages… to me.”

Will finally dared to look up, and he found Hannibal’s completely calm expression. For a moment, he almost wished Hannibal would call the idea crazy, that he would shake his head and laugh at it. Almost.

Instead, Hannibal just nodded.

“I don’t think you can call any idea foolish, especially in a case like this, Will.”

“Yeah, but… I know that’s impossible, of course. That would imply that he knows me, somehow. I mean, those gifts…” Will’s lower lip twitched at his own words. “Those _murders_ , they’re personal. Not between the Ripper and the victims, but between the Ripper and the person he’s addressing.”

Hannibal shifted too, sitting up and turning so they were almost face to face.

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that for you.”

“I know, Hannibal, I just. You said you’d be my paddle, but… I don’t feel like I’m drowning, exactly. I feel like I’m stranded on an island, and I can see the shore but I can’t reach it.”

“So go into the water and swim to me,” Hannibal said, and after a second, he smiled.

Will smiled too and pulled Hannibal closer until their lips met in a wet, lazy kiss.

When they got out of the bathtub, Will took the towel and started drying Hannibal without saying a word. He dabbed his skin slowly as he circled him and dried every inch of him, just because he wanted to do it, simply because he could. And Hannibal stayed still, letting him do as he pleased.

When Will finished with Hannibal’s feet, he stood up and looked at the other’s eyes. He knew Hannibal was feeling much better now than he had been the previous couple of days, but still Will wanted to hug him, surround him and make him feel his normal self again.

Will dropped the towel to their feet and took a step backwards, raising his hand and offering his palm up to Hannibal. His eyes didn’t leave Will’s when he took it, not even glancing a questioning look at him, and so Will pulled Hannibal out of the bathroom. He felt the chill air hit his still slightly damp skin as they made their way towards the hallway, but when he pushed the bedroom’s door open, not a single part of his mind was focused on the cold.

He guided Hannibal to the bed and made him climb it and sit on his heels before imitating his posture. Will smiled, remembering their first night together. It had been amazing, but he remembered it a bit rushed, the nervousness he had felt getting in the way. But now it was so different; he trusted this man so much, and he knew Hannibal trusted him.

Will pressed his hand over Hannibal’s chest and guided it down to his stomach until he gently grasped Hannibal’s hardening cock, enjoying the way it twitched in answer. Hannibal moved on his own for the first time since they had left the bathtub, and he cupped Will’s nape as he pulled him closer to him. The kiss was slow once again, their lips moving in gentle caresses, their tongues sliding out to brush against the other’s, but neither of them feeling any rush, the hunger Will always felt with Hannibal surpassed by the desire to drag his fingers across the other’s skin, to kiss him again and again until they had to pull back to breathe.

He then leaned backwards until he was lying down on the mattress, Hannibal following him and draping his naked body over Will’s, their now hard erections brushing against each other. Hannibal moaned, his hitched breath hitting him in warm puffs before Will craned his neck to claim his lips again, swallowing the sound in the kiss.

Will wrapped both arms around Hannibal’s broad back so there wouldn’t be any space between them, and then he rocked his hips slowly, the sounds that filled the room coming from his own throat this time.

Will could feel that his hair was still wet against the sheets, but when he felt something moist on his cheeks, he moved back. For a second, he was scared at seeing Hannibal’s tears, but then he wiped them away with his thumb.

“Do you want to stop?” he asked, and Hannibal shook his head as his lips curved slightly upwards, one of his hands tightening its hold on Will’s waist, as if fearing he was going to pull away.

“No… No. I want you. I need you, Will.”

Will brushed his thumb over the slope of his cheekbones again, and he smiled warmly, nodding.

“I’m right here.”

Hannibal buried his face in Will’s neck, and they remained still for a few heartbeats. Then Hannibal kissed the hollow of his neck before straightening and reaching for the lube on the bedside table. When Hannibal returned to him, Will pulled him closer again, and Hannibal started to open him with his fingers while Will panted against the other’s lips.

When Will was ready, Hannibal pulled out and reached again towards the bedside table, but Will stopped him. Hannibal looked at him with questioning eyes.

“When was the last time you were tested?” he asked, squirming beneath him.

“A month ago. They do regular check-ups in the hospital,” Hannibal said.

“They made me get a check-up when I joined the FBI,” Will told him.

Hannibal kept still for a moment, and Will raised his eyebrows. Hannibal clearly understood what he was telling him, so Will feared for a moment that he had ruined the moment with that suggestion.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. But if you don’t want to-”

Hannibal answered by crashing his mouth against Will’s in the first urgent movement either of them had made. When Hannibal dragged his hand down to align himself, Will pushed him enough so he could roll over, lying face down against the mattress. He reached behind himself to grab Hannibal’s hip and pull him closer. He shifted his hips up, and when he felt the familiar sensation of Hannibal entering him, he let out a groan and pressed his cheek against the sheets. But this time it was as different as it was familiar. He had never had unprotected sex before with anyone, so he groaned when Hannibal pushed in, the feeling being slightly different than usual, but entirely welcome.

Hannibal interlaced the fingers of his right hand with Will’s, and encircled Will’s head with the other, grabbing his curls gently as he pushed slowly inside. Will moaned loudly and squeezed Hannibal’s hand as the man blanketed Will’s back when he buried himself completely inside him.

Hannibal pressed his forehead against Will’s hairline, and then he began to press sloppy kisses to his temple, his cheekbone, his ear, his damp curls. And finally, to his mouth, in a much too imperfect sideways kiss, their lips not fitting as though they were made for each other as they always did, but still finding the way to join them together, their mouths dancing in between ragged gasps.

Will wriggled his hips, lowering and raising them, and Hannibal moaned as he pressed his forehead again against his hair. Then he began to move in earnest. He started swaying above him, thrusting inside Will with such care and slow motions, that each thrust drew a long, hoarse moan out of Will. His cock was trapped between his body and the mattress, but he didn’t even try to drag his hand beneath him; every time Hannibal buried himself back into Will, the movement created the perfect friction against the sheets, along with Hannibal brushing the spot that prolonged Will’s moans into a cry.

He soon felt his orgasm building up inside him, his balls tightening, and he sank his fingers into Hannibal’s side, squeezing Hannibal’s hand with the other as he came. Hannibal followed in the following thrust, and Will moaned again at the filling sensation, as he felt Hannibal’s orgasm inside him, his cock throbbing and softening afterwards.

They didn’t move for a long moment, Will feeling Hannibal’s belly against his back with every breath he took, and their hands still tightly linked. When Hannibal finally pulled out with a groan, Will stayed still as he heard Hannibal go into the en suite bathroom and come back with a new towel. Will turned in time to watch Hannibal return to bed. He cleaned Will with the same care as he had shown until that moment.

After he threw the towel aside, Hannibal lay down beside him and Will rolled over to hold him close and bury his face in Hannibal’s neck. They stayed there for minutes, maybe even hours, and then Will chuckled.

“So much for taking a bath first thing in the morning, huh?”

Will felt Hannibal’s smile even before he pulled back to look at him, and he rested his head on Hannibal’s biceps.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I was… remembering something from my childhood, actually,” Hannibal told him, and Will could see the nostalgia in his eyes.

“Do you miss it? Lithuania. Your home.”

“Not really… Lithuania stopped being my home after what happened. I do miss the house, though. We had a big library in the Lecter house. You would’ve loved it there, my own room pales in comparison. It was such a big room, books covering all the walls from the ceiling to the floor… I used to spend a lot of time there, as a child.”

Will smiled at that, trying to imagine a room like Hannibal’s library, only bigger, more opulent, with a smaller version of Hannibal there.

“I will always have that room in my mind palace.”

“Your mind palace?” Will asked, curious.

“The place in my mind I use to keep my most precious memories. Where I go when I need to escape reality, to anchor myself.”

Will nodded then, recognizing what he was describing.

“All I need for that is a stream. I use the river where I usually fish. I put my head back, close my eyes and wade into the quiet of the stream…”

Hannibal looked at him intently then, and Will looked down for a second, shyly. He had never told that to anyone before.

“What else do you keep in your mind palace?” he asked Hannibal as he looked at him again.

“All sorts of things. All the places that have stayed with me throughout my life. Like the Uffizi gallery, one of my favorite places from the time I spent in Italy,” Hannibal told him, and Will smiled again. “I also keep…”

Hannibal got quiet then, and Will stirred a little, brushing Hannibal’s leg with his.

“What?”

“My sister.”

Will froze then. He observed Hannibal’s face for a long moment. He had only ever talked about his family when they had met, when he had told him about them dying when he was a child. Hannibal hadn’t told him anything else, and Will hadn’t wanted to press further.

“She also died before I left Lithuania,” Hannibal said, answering Will’s unvoiced question. But then, he smiled. “She wasn’t my child, but she was my charge. And she taught me so much about myself… Her name was Mischa.”

Will smiled too, warmed by Hannibal sharing that with him, something Will knew right then that he hadn’t told many people.

“Mischa…” he repeated, knowing how important that one word, that name, was for Hannibal. “I bet you were a good brother.”

Hannibal pulled him closer using the arm behind Will’s head, and Will wrapped him in a tight embrace. They were there for a long time, simply listening to each other’s breathing and enjoying the closeness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about being so inconsistent in the updates lately, but between real life and the events of Hannibal Cre-Ate-Ive I've been pretty busy xD. I'll also be unable to post next week (I'll be at LFCC in London!!! *high pitched screaming*), and I'll see about the following one, since it will start #ItsStillBeautiful! I'm so sorry, but bear with me, this chapter is a turning point and things are about to get kinda interesting... ;)
> 
> Also, I've decided to try to open commissions! I really like writing fics, and a little income would help me a lot and would let me keep doing it a bit longer. So if you like my fics and would like to commission me, [here's the info post](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/post/147706827378/starkaryen-hi-writing-is-my-passion-ive) ^^


	16. Chapter 16

Will woke up alone in Hannibal’s bed. He looked around drowsily and yawned as he wondered if that had ever happened before, but he couldn’t remember any time when he had woken up in this house without either Hannibal’s hands around him and his body pressed close, or the other way around, his hands seeking out the warmth of the other.

But now he was alone, and the mattress and sheets were cold around him. Will got up and put on his pajama pants before going into the bathroom. That day he didn’t have to go to Quantico – _unless our friend leaves us another of his presents_ , Davis had told him in a wry tone of voice the day before – and so he had spent the night at Hannibal’s.

When he finished in the bathroom, he made his way down the hallway and to the stairs. Only when he was down did he hear Hannibal’s voice coming from the kitchen. Will smiled, guessing Hannibal was speaking to himself and finding it rather endearing. When he came into the kitchen, however, he realized a little too late it was definitely _not_ Hannibal talking to himself.

“Shit,” he blurted out.

The young woman standing by the kitchen island turned around startled and wide-eyed too. And when her eyes went down to Will’s shirtless torso, he blushed immediately.

“Will,” Hannibal greeted him, smiling and leaving the knife on the counter, as composed as always.

Will opened and closed his mouth, not sure of what to say. And so he chuckled.

“I… Sorry, I didn’t know there was somebody else here,” he said, beginning to back up out of the kitchen.

“I didn’t want to wake you up,” Hannibal said, going around the island to stand between Will and the dark-haired woman. “Allow me to introduce you. Will, this is Alana Bloom. She was my pupil years ago, and now she’s a soon-to-be colleague,” he said, looking at her for a moment. “Alana, this is Will Graham, he’s a consultant criminal profiler for the FBI.”

She approached him with her hand raised, and so Will shook it in an automatic gesture.

“I am the one who’s sorry. I turned up unannounced and I shouldn’t have, but I was around…” Alana started, but Hannibal lifted his hand.

“Nonsense,” Hannibal said as they dropped their hands, and Will focused on him as he returned to the counter where he had been before. “I asked for your help and you turned up. I am only grateful, Alana.”

She smiled and took a sip from her cup of coffee as Will stood there awkwardly, one of his arms crossed across his bare stomach. But then the woman looked at him intently, and even tilting her head, and he wished he could vanish.

“Will Graham… Aren’t you the profiler that started working on the case of The Chesapeake Ripper?”

“Uh… Yes, I am.”

“I knew the name rang a bell. I work in Quantico,” the young woman said, pointing at herself with her free hand. “I mainly teach at the university, but I consult on some cases too. I’ve heard so much about you.”

She smiled and he raised his eyebrows.

“Oh! I didn’t know… people were speaking about me.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that you’re already well-known in the FBI,” Hannibal said. He turned to Alana. “His mind is definitely a wonder.”

Will smiled shyly at the praise, and Alana looked from one to the other with a smirk on her lips. Hannibal pointed at the coffee maker.

“Coffee?” he asked Will.

“Oh, no. I think I’m gonna go get changed and then I’ll go to my house, check on the dogs,” he said, using the arm that covered his stomach to rub at the other one.

Hannibal set his own mug on the counter and for a second Will feared he would approach him and kiss him goodbye. It wasn’t, of course, that he was ashamed of kissing Hannibal in front of anyone. But he _was_ ashamed in that moment at having disrupted this sort of reunion half naked, to add an intimate display to the equation. Hannibal seemed to understand perfectly, though, because he stayed beside the kitchen island.

“Very well. I’ll call you later, then.”

“Of course. Nice to meet you, Alana,” he told the woman, who nodded.

“Right back at you, Will.”

Hannibal gave him a small smile only for him right before he nodded and went out of the kitchen.

****

When he arrived in Wolf Trap, Harry and Chloe received him by tackling him and almost knocking him to the floor. Will had spent most of the past week in Hannibal’s house after what had happened, and he had even left the dogs in Beverly’s house – at her request - to spend the New Year together, so they were more than happy to have him there.

After taking a long walk with them, in which they got to chase a rabbit that they obviously didn’t catch, he spent the morning doing everything he had neglected by not being in his house as much as he used to. He had a quick lunch that made him painfully miss Hannibal’s meals, and then he slumped on the couch with both dogs spread around him. He was nodding off when his phone started ringing in his pocket, and he mentally prayed it wouldn’t be the FBI. He grinned when he saw Hannibal’s name on the screen, instead.

“Hey,” he said when he picked up, stretching out his legs until he hit the other end of the couch without disturbing Harry.

“ _Will. I’m so sorry about this morning. I asked for Alana’s help yesterday, but I didn’t know she would turn up so soon_.”

Will laughed once and shook his head, even though Hannibal couldn’t see him.

“It’s alright, Hannibal. I was just caught off-guard.” He heard a small puff of air, and he wondered if Hannibal was chuckling at remembering the moment when he had entered the kitchen shirtless.

“ _Are you home with the dogs?_ ” he asked.

Will closed his eyes and sighed contentedly. “Yes… I feel a little guilty for leaving them alone for so much time.”

“ _That’s my fault. We will spend more time in your house from now on_ ,” Hannibal said, and Will’s lips stretched in a new smile.

“It _is_ partly your fault,” he joked, and behind his eyelids he could almost see Hannibal smiling too. “How are you feeling?”

“ _I’m fine, Will, really. Stop worrying about me_.”

“I don’t think I can do that.”

“ _Well, I hope tomorrow you believe me when I tell you that I am well. I have something to show you. A surprise_.”

Will raised his eyebrows, and Chloe raised her head as if she was reacting to Hannibal’s words too.

“A surprise? Should I be worried…?” he teased him.

Will heard in that moment the sound of a door opening from Hannibal’s side. Will wondered if he was out of his house, or if he was just moving around the it.

“ _Not at all. It’s just something I want to share with you. Can I pick you up from Quantico tomorrow at lunch?_ ”

“Sure,” Will agreed, the curiosity already building inside him.

“ _Perfect. I’ll see you tomorrow_.”

When he hung up, Will wondered what Hannibal’s _surprise_ would be, and he spent the rest of the afternoon and the next morning imagining all sorts of scenarios, each more ridiculous than the previous one.

When the time came and he saw the Bentley outside of the Quantico’s office, though, the issue left his mind as Hannibal walked from the car to him, as if he couldn’t wait for Will to reach him. Hannibal seemed hesitant about how to behave given where they were, so it was Will who leaned in for a hug and gave him a brief kiss.

“How was your day?” Hannibal asked him as Will moved back from Hannibal’s warmth.

“Good. No bodies yet.”

They got in the car and Hannibal maneuvered out of the parking lot.

“Do you have to return later?” Hannibal asked, looking at him briefly before his eyes returned to the road.

“No. I asked to have the afternoon off.”

Hannibal nodded and smiled, pleased. Whatever they were going to do, it was evidently going according to his plans.

Will didn’t ask where he was taking him, as he knew the answer would be that it was, after all, a surprise. But after a few minutes, he realized they were going to Baltimore. It puzzled him when after an hour of driving, he parked in front of a modest Italian restaurant he knew well; it was one they had gone to a couple of times while Will still worked as a police officer. He remained silent as they made their way in and a waiter seated them and handed them both a menu. Will observed Hannibal with an eyebrow raised as the other seemed engrossed in choosing the meal.

“Is this the mysterious surprise, then?” he asked.

Hannibal smiled and looked up at him across his menu.

“Not at all. We will go after having lunch. Aren’t you hungry?”

“Yes, very,” Will confessed.

Hannibal nodded to his unused menu. “Let’s eat, then.”

Will nodded and picked it up with a smile.

When they were finishing their dessert, Hannibal excused himself and went out to make a call. When he returned, he was even more cheerful, and Will just shook his head at him.

After leaving the restaurant Hannibal drove across downtown, and Will thought he was headed back to his house. Just when he was wondering why, then, hadn’t they eaten there instead of at the restaurant, Hannibal came to a stop in a street, parking the car in front of a building with nothing distinctive on its façade. Will looked around him as Hannibal got out of the car, and so he did the same.

“Where are we…?”

“You will see in a moment,” Hannibal replied with an enigmatic smile on his lips.

Will followed him to the opposite sidewalk, where there was a blonde, petite woman dressed in suit. When Hannibal went straight to her and shook her hand, Will raised his eyebrows.

“Dr. Lecter, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” she said, and looked at Will when Hannibal turned to him.

“Likewise. This is Will Graham. Will, Hilda Porter.”

He shook her hand too and went through the formality of nodding with his head and saying it was a pleasure even though he didn’t have any idea what was going on.

“Shall we?” the woman asked, taking a set of keys from her purse.

“Please,” Hannibal nodded.

They followed her to the nearest building, which she opened with the keys and lead the way through a beautiful foyer and to one of the two doors there. By the time they made it inside, Will’s curiosity was already gnawing him. Finally, they went into the room and he felt his jaw drop open.

It was a very ample and mostly empty room, two large, wide windows in the opposite wall, a mezzanine ringing the entire room except for the window’s wall, supported by beautiful arches and columns down to the floor.

“Take all the time you want,” the woman told them, going out of the room with a smile and closing the door behind her.

Will finally looked at Hannibal, who was in the center of the empty room with a smile on his lips.

“What do you think?” he asked.

Will chuckled, looking around him again. “It’s an office.”

It wasn’t a question, but Hannibal nodded. “I started looking for offices last week, as soon as I handed out my resignation. But I didn’t found any of them to my liking… until this.”

“ _This_ is why you called that woman, Alana,” Will said, understanding then. He hadn’t wanted to intrude and sound like a nosy boyfriend, but he had wondered what Hannibal had meant when he had said he had asked for her help.

“Yes. She recommended Hilda to me, and as soon as I called her and told her what I needed, she told me she had something for me. I came to see it yesterday afternoon, but I wanted you to see it before deciding.”

Will smiled a little then, warmed and even blushing slightly at Hannibal’s words. He was about to take a big step in his professional career, and he was actually asking Will for his opinion.

He walked into the room then, since he had been frozen at the entrance, and he looked around as he approached one of the room’s sides.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right with that kind of change so soon?” Will said. He heard Hannibal moving behind him, matching every step of Will with one of his own.

“I think I am. I don’t like doing nothing. It will still take a while until I’m open for business. I have to buy the furniture, decorate, make a few changes, start looking for patients…”

Will stopped by the ladder that led to the mezzanine. He put his hand on one of the rungs and dragged his hand along the smooth surface as he turned. Hannibal was already much closer than he had expected.

“Then the only thing I can say is that… it’s perfect,” Will, his smile widening on his lips.

Hannibal grinned then, and bowed his head for a second before looking up and around the room again.

“I think so too. It is all I could’ve ever asked for. It has two exits for the patients. I can have a desk in the foyer for a secretary, and it even has a kitchen for any other visits I may have. I can see the desk right there, facing the opposite wall, and in the center, the two chairs…”

“And don’t forget the divan. They won’t let you be a psychiatrist without one,” Will joked, raising his eyebrows even though he was pleased to see Hannibal so enthusiastic about it.

“Of course,” Hannibal nodded, going along with him.

Will laughed, and then cleared his throat.

“You know, I was afraid of this… surprise.”

“How so?”

“I was trying to guess what it would be. I feared you wanted to take me on a super expensive trip to Europe, or something extravagant like that…” Will chuckled. When he looked up, though, Hannibal’s face was serious, except for the small smile at the corner of his lips. He shrugged.

“I wouldn’t do that without consulting you first, or knowing you want to do it. But that is actually not a bad idea,” he said, tilting his head. “Maybe for the summer?”

“Sure, the summer…” Will teased.

Hannibal leaned in then, kissing him as he pushed him gently against the ladder. Will smiled into the kiss and returned it happily, throwing both arms around his shoulders to pull him closer as they kissed more deeply for the first time that day. When Hannibal kissed him across his jaw and down his neck, Will laughed quietly.

“I think I like this ladder,” Hannibal whispered against his skin, the puff of air making Will’s skin prickle.

“The realtor…” Will said in a weak protest.

Hannibal’s hand slid across Will’s his side, between his jacket and his sweater, and Will couldn’t stifle a low groan as Hannibal pressed him slightly against the rungs.

What interrupted them was not, as Will feared, the realtor returning to the room, but Will’s phone ringing in his pocket, trapped between Hannibal’s thigh and his own. Will cursed as Hannibal pulled back.

“Yes?” he said when he picked up the call.

“ _Graham, where are you? We’ve got a body_ ,” Agent Davis said without preamble. Will closed his eyes for a second and sighed quietly. When he opened them again, he focused on the buttons of Hannibal’s open overcoat in front of him.

“Okay. I’m in Baltimore, send me the address and I’ll be there.”

“ _Well, you won’t have to move much, then. The scene is right there_.”

“All right. See you-”

“ _There’s something else_ ,” Davis interrupted him before he could hang up. “ _This… isn’t the Chesapeake Ripper_.”

Will frowned and raised his gaze to meet Hannibal’s.

****

Will didn’t say a word during the drive to the opposite part of the city, and Hannibal respected his silence alone with his thoughts. The last words of Davis before he hung up kept ringing in his ears, and as much as he tried not to, he knew it was a lost battle, and his imagination kept supplying all kinds of images of the scene he was about to see.

A gentle touch on his arm made him return to reality, jerking on the seat and looking at Hannibal.

“We’re here,” he told him, and Will noticed then that they had stopped, and in front of them there was the unmistakable ring of curious neighbors around the police cordon. “Do you want me to go?”

Will focused on his face again, and he shook his head without having to consider it.

“If you don’t want to stay-”

“Will,” Hannibal said with a tilt of his head. An entire argument settled with just that. It saved Will the trouble of bargaining with him, of saying that he didn’t _need_ to stay, which Hannibal already knew how to read: that he _actually_ didn’t want him to leave.

“Okay,” Will nodded.

They went together out of the car and through the gathered people. When they crossed through the police tape, Will showing the officer there his badge and clearing Hannibal for access to the crime scene, Agent Cruz was already going to him.

“Graham,” she greeted him, then looked at Hannibal. “And this would be?”

“Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal, this is Agent Silvia Cruz.”

“Doctor in…?” she asked as they shook hands.

“Body and mind. I was a surgeon, now I am a psychiatrist,” he explained briefly. She nodded, impressed.

“Can he come in? He was with me when you called, and I wouldn’t mind using his insight,” Will told her.

Cruz looked from Will to Hannibal for a second, and then she shrugged.

“Of course. Never enough eyes, right? Although I’m afraid this won’t be paid as a consultant for you. You’d be here unofficially.”

“Of course,” Hannibal nodded.

“All right. Now…” she said, turning to Will again. She looked at the people gathered outside the building, but they were far enough to be unheard. “I was hesitant about involving you, given your… personal involvement with the case.” Will moved his gaze from her face past her shoulder, and waited for her to continue. “Are you sure you’re okay with consulting for The Slasher’s case again…?”

Will felt his ears ringing, as if his head was about to disconnect from his body. It was only a second, but it was the same thing he had felt in what would be Hannibal’s office the moment Davis had said those same words. That it was The Slasher, the serial killer that had sent him to the hospital.

“You were the one closest to catching him, even as just a police officer,” Cruz continued when he didn’t answer. “But if you are not comfortable with it, we understand, Will.”

Will’s hand twitched at his side, the need to touch the wound in his stomach almost unbearable. He clenched and unclenched his hand before clearing his throat and nodding.

“It’s okay.”

“Are you sure?” Hannibal asked beside him, touching his elbow lightly over his coat. Will locked eyes with him and swallowed.

“Yeah. Yes. I’m fine.”

Agent Cruz nodded, and they finally walked to the building, where a few policemen were interviewing people, but they didn’t go to the door; they went to the alleyway behind the building instead.

“The victim’s about 35, male, but still unidentified. They’re asking all the neighbors around,” she told them as they dodged people from the FBI along the alley, going to the back of the building. “He died of exsanguination, as the rest of the victims. The forensic team estimates the time of death around 5 or 6am. And sure enough, nobody saw anything strange or out of the ordinary.”

Agent Davis was there talking to the man in charge of taking the pictures, but as soon as they appeared, the forensic team cleared the scene, knowing what was coming. Davis looked at Hannibal with a frown, but he just shook his head and left with the forensics team.

The body was lying between a dumpster and one of the building’s fire escapes, hidden to anyone who merely peeked into the alley. The pool of blood under the man was already dry, and the cut on his throat was a familiar single cut.

“We’ll… leave you to it,” Agent Cruz said then, turning around and following his colleague.

“Do you need me to leave, too?” Hannibal asked him.

That made Will peel his eyes off the body to look at him. He gave him a shaky smile and shook his head.

“No.”

Hannibal nodded, but he still took a step back to give him space. Will faced the body again and took a deep breath before closing his eyes. His mind slipped easily away.

The blood from the ground started returning to the body, the cut from the man’s neck closing as soon as the last drop was inside. The body was no longer there, because it was alive once again, a man going into the alley with a garbage bag in his hand. And he had been there, waiting exactly for this moment for an hour, two, whatever was necessary. When the man was almost beside the trashcan, he finally noticed his presence. The man jerked away, taken aback, but then chuckled nervously as he started walking to him. He didn’t want to look like a fool, and so he disguised how uncomfortable he was, and that was his fatal mistake. When the man threw away the bag, he was already close enough to grab him. Knife ready in his pocket… With a precise calm, he leapt forwards.

When Will reemerged, he gasped as he opened his eyes. He felt Hannibal’s presence immediately behind him, and he swallowed as he turned and nodded, as a way of telling him he was okay. Then, he looked at both agents, waiting at the end of the alley, and they approached him.

“Well?” Davis asked him. Always the impatient one, Will thought.

“This is… not The Slasher,” Will said in a certain tone of voice. But not as close to how certain he really was.

Hannibal tilted his head beside him, Davis and Cruz exchanged a quick glance, and then she took a step forwards.

“Are you sure? It’s the same MO…”

“Yes, but it’s all wrong. Or… too right, so to speak.” Will huffed out and looked away from the agents’ eyes. “The place for the body is slightly hidden; The Slasher didn’t hide the bodies, he liked making a gruesome show, for people to discover it right after he did it. And yet this one spent hours here before anyone found it,” he said, pointing at the alley. “The cut in his neck is wrong, too. Too precise, too… clean. The Slasher wasn’t this skilled, this killer knows what he’s doing. And this killer isn’t moved by hatred or violence… it wasn’t _tasteless_. This has a certain amount of grace. Of purpose.”

When he finished speaking, he looked up at Hannibal for a second; he was very still, watching and listening to Will intently. He was suddenly aware that, despite how many times he had talked to Hannibal about the cases, this was the first time he saw Will _perform_. And yet, where he wouldn’t have been surprised to find a slightly frightened or worried look, he only found something he wasn’t sure what to call… But Will didn’t feel, not for an instant, judged by him.

When he looked back at the agents, it was a completely different story, especially from Davis’ part.

“If this isn’t The Slasher… then what? We have a copycat now?” the man asked.

 _The Chesapeake Ripper_ , was the first thing that rang in Will’s mind. But he didn’t have any proof, any real evidence. Nothing except his gut yelling at him, a corner of his mind telling him it _felt_ like him…

“Maybe,” he said instead.

“I don’t get it… Why now? Why choosing The Slasher to copy?”

Will sighed and ran a hand across his face.

“I… don’t know.”

And it was only partially true. Because the only answer he had was too ridiculous to say out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... hello! I don't know how many people will still be waiting an update of this, but here I am! xD  
> I can't even begin to express how sorry I am for taking SO long to update AFW... It's not like I haven't written during all this time (months!!); I wrote a long fic ([the weight of your touch](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7750741/chapters/17671813)) and a lot of shorter ones. But I still felt terrible leaving this fic in a hiatus. But that's over now! I'm back and I will try (emphasis on trying, because everyone who writes knows that sometimes inspiration hits you and you just HAVE to write something else, instead) to write only this until I finish it (which is not that far away from this chapter... ;) )
> 
> Apart from how sorry I am for you guys, I had reaaaally missed writing AFW. My younger Hannigram bbs<3 
> 
> I really hope the wait has been somewhat worth it! ^^


	17. Chapter 17

Will took a step trough the swamp. He felt his boots starting to soak, and each step was harder than the last one. He also felt heavier, as if his entire body was absorbing the water like a sponge, getting bigger and bigger. And he realized, too, that he was sinking a little each time. Step, sink, step, sink, step, sink. He stopped, looking at the mud that now covered up to his calf, and only then did he realize that it was _not_ muddy water; it was blood. He tried to step back, but he couldn’t move his feet as fast as he wanted to, and so he fell backwards into the swamp. He propped himself up with his hands and saw someone right in front of him. It was Hannibal, dressed in a beautiful three-piece suit… but as soon as Will looked up to his face, he gasped in horror. Because right above the tie and shirt collar, there was a long cut across his neck, from which blood started pouring out.

“No!” he yelled.

He tried to get up, but with each movement he only managed to sink further, the blood reaching up to his waist when he got on his knees.

“Hannibal!”

The man, however, seemed unaffected. Will tried to move again, but the blood was filling the space more and more, now up to his chest… And then he noticed, too, that Hannibal had a knife in his hand. A bloody knife. Will opened his mouth to scream and Hannibal smiled.

“NO!”

Will opened his eyes to the darkness and propelled himself forwards. But what prevented him from falling face first onto the floor was a strong grip on his right arm. Will looked around as he panted, still disoriented. Slowly, he realized that he was in his own bedroom, in his own bed, and what had grabbed him was Hannibal. With his heart beating painfully hard against his ribs, Will looked from the man’s hand on his forearm to his face, and he sighed with relief when he didn’t see any blood, or any cuts on his neck. Hannibal was sleepy, his hair unkempt and a slight worried frown on his brow.

“Will?”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

Hannibal’s grasp finally loosened, and he rubbed his hand up Will’s arm in a soothing movement. But Will was still too shaken by the dream to relax at Hannibal’s touch, so he cast the sheets away, got up from the bed and went to the bathroom. As he was about to close the door, he saw Hannibal start to move.

“I’m all right, stay in bed. Please,” Will asked him. Hannibal stopped just as his feet were about to touch the floor. “Go back to sleep.”

Will closed the door before Hannibal could answer and leaned against the sink, both hands gripping the edges hard. He focused on the drain and breathed deeply once, twice, ten times, until his heartbeat started returning to normal. Only then did he dare to look up into the mirror. He was relieved to find only his reflection, but when he closed his eyes, he could still see the crimson water, he could still smell the heavy, coppery scent of blood.

Will splashed water on his face and hair and then took off the shirt he was wearing, throwing it to the laundry basket. He went back to the bedroom, opening the door very carefully, but it didn’t matter, because Hannibal was obviously awake and he raised his head as soon as he walked in. Will put on a clean shirt from his dresser and then faced Hannibal.

“Go back to sleep,” he told him again, circling the bed. Hannibal tilted his head a little.

“Where are you going?”

“Couch. I’m all sweaty and I probably won’t be able to fall asleep again…” he muttered.

The truth was, he could still feel the piercing pain he had experienced at seeing Hannibal bleed out in front of him, unable to do anything.

Hannibal got up from the bed, this time in too a quick movement for Will to stop him, and walked to him. Will closed his eyes, wanting Hannibal’s soothing touch despite his words, and so he stayed still. Hannibal was still for a long moment, too, but then Will felt his hand over Will’s forearm, his fingers brushing up to his shoulder, where he finally pulled him closer and wrapped both arms around him. Will melted into the embrace, hugging Hannibal tightly as soon as he felt the other’s arms around his back. He buried his face in the crook of Hannibal’s neck and stifled a tearless sob. Hannibal simply cradled his still-damp hair with a hand as he drew soothing circles on his back with the other. He was so solid, so real, Will could merely tighten his hold around him, not wanting to let go, ever.

“I’m sorry I woke you up,” he murmured against Hannibal’s neck.

“You don’t have to apologize for having bad dreams, Will,” Hannibal told him in a calm tone of voice. “With your work, the things you see, and the gift you have… the surprise would be if you didn’t have any.”

Will didn’t want to tell him that it wasn’t exactly that. He didn’t have bad dreams because of the horrors he saw… he had bad dreams because of how much he saw himself reflected in those horrors. But that night it had been different. That dream had been about Hannibal, and The Slasher, but Will hadn’t seen himself with the knife, that time.

He sighed into Hannibal’s bare skin, and finally loosened the hold around the man and moved back to look at him. Hannibal’s eyes were soft as he moved the hand that had rested on Will’s nape to his jaw in a gentle caress.

“It’s four in the morning, so why don’t we go back to bed and try to sleep for a while?”

Will nodded, and so they went, Will feeling the cold air creeping up to him as soon as he was away from Hannibal’s warmth. But that didn’t last long, because as soon as he climbed onto the mattress and under the sheets, Hannibal did so on his side of the bed, and he lay down on his side with his left arm spread under the pillow and the right one clearly waiting for him. Will smiled weakly and lay down on his side too, pushing himself backwards until his back met Hannibal’s chest. The man wrapped his arm around Will’s middle instantly, lifting his shirt slightly up with the movement and brushing the skin of his stomach as he pressed his mouth and nose to Will’s neck. The smile on Will’s lips widened as he relaxed in Hannibal’s embrace, leaning into his warmth and closing his eyes. He was asleep before he had time to think about it.

****

Hannibal flipped the crepe inside the frying pan with a twist of his wrist. As it landed, he heard Will coming out of the bedroom. Hannibal looked at him for a moment once the crepe was under control. Will’s eyes were soft with sleep, his hair pointing in all directions. Despite having slept without any further incidents after his nightmare, Will still looked tired. He wondered once again what the dream had been about. Will had had nightmares before, but last night had seemed different somehow…

“Good morning. Crepe?” Hannibal asked with a wide smile.

“Hmm, yes please,” Will replied with a weak smile of his own.

Will greeted the dogs and went to the door to open it for them, but both of them stayed inside, merely looking at Will and wagging their tails.

“I let them out when I woke up,” Hannibal told him from the kitchen.

“Oh?”

“I hope that’s all right? They looked like they needed to do their business.”

“No, of course it’s okay!” Will chuckled, closing the door and approaching him. “I’m actually glad you feel comfortable enough with them to let them out all on your own.”

Hannibal put the last of the crepes on the plate where he had piled them and turned off the power of the stove burner before looking up at Will, where he found a raised eyebrow that matched the slightly playful tone in his voice.

“I take it you’re feeling much better if you’re teasing me like that,” Hannibal said with a tilt of his head.

Will leaned against the counter and his smile widened on his lips.

“I am. Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I beg to differ,” Will said, and he grabbed the sweater Hannibal was wearing, pulling him with a firm but gentle tug that brought their lips together in a warm kiss that tasted like minty toothpaste.

Hannibal moved back, though not before nuzzling Will’s jaw. Will finished setting the table while Hannibal served the coffee. Once they started eating breakfast, Hannibal looked at Will over the rim of his cup.

“Do you have to work today?” Hannibal asked, trying to sound casual, before sipping his coffee.

“I should take another look at the files, but unless they find anything else… there’s not much I can do for now.”

Hannibal took his time to slowly cut a piece of his crepe and chew it.

“About that… Why did you ask them to keep off the record that you don’t think it’s The Slasher?”

Hannibal had been very careful about not asking him yesterday. When Will told the agents that it wasn’t The Slasher, Hannibal had frozen on the spot, waiting for the next words. But Will seemed to think twice, and instead he claimed he didn’t know who the real killer was, and that he thought it was best to keep it from the press.

“I… don’t know,” Will said, shrugging.

“Are you unsure?” Hannibal asked.

“No,” Will said immediately, and then he set his fork down and took his own cup of coffee. “I don’t know. I’m sure about the fact that he isn’t The Slasher. I’m not so sure that the only idea in my mind is the right one, either. I just wanted a little more time.”

“You fear it’s another… _crazy_ idea,” Hannibal said, as Will had called it when he had confessed to him that he felt like the Ripper’s gifts were _for_ him.

Will looked up at him for a few seconds, and then he took a sip of the coffee. He didn’t answer, but he didn’t need to. Hannibal knew him well enough by now to know.

He spent the rest of that Saturday with Will, taking a long walk in the afternoon with the dogs. Will took him to the river where he used to fish, which was frozen at the edges, and told him that he always missed it in the winter. Hannibal embraced Will from behind - the thick coats and gloves they were wearing making it hard to link his hands together around him – and told him that maybe in the summer they could come back. Will simply turned around and kissed him, their breaths turning into steam when he pulled back and laughed as he nodded at Hannibal’s suggestion.

After a simple but nice meal, Hannibal went into Will’s room and started packing the few clothes he had brought with him.

“You’re not staying tonight?” Will asked him from the door.

Hannibal zipped the bag and turned around. Will was obviously disappointed, even if he was trying to conceal it. He left the bag at the foot of the bed and approached him.

“I’m afraid I can’t. I told Alana we would have breakfast together, to discuss more things about the practice. If I stay, I would have to go really early to arrive on time.”

“Oh.” Will nodded, pursing his lips and giving him a quick and weak smile. “Yes, I… understand.”

“You know I would like nothing more than to stay here, don’t you?” Hannibal asked him, and at that Will smiled more sincerely.

“I do. And I understand, don’t worry. Will you come tomorrow?”

“If you let me…” Hannibal joked. Will pretended to think about it, and then chuckled.

“You know… you could leave your pajamas here,” Will said, and then his face changed in a blink, an almost scared expression taking over him. “I- I mean. If you want. Because it’s convenient, that way you don’t have to take them to your house, and then bring them back here, and-”

“Will.”

Will stopped, breathing in and out. Hannibal smiled, warmed by Will’s proposal.

“I’d love to leave my pajamas here… If you let me,” he repeated, and Will laughed, the tension in his shoulders loosening.

Hannibal opened his bag and took those garments out – both the pants and the t-shirt he never used -, leaving them on the armchair and returning to Will with a wide smile on his lips. Will was trying to contain a bright smile on his own without much success, and so Hannibal leaned in to press a chaste kiss to his lips. But when he was going to move away, he felt Will’s hand on his lower back, pulling him closer and kissing him again, that time sucking on his lower lip. Hannibal parted his lips as he pushed him backwards, finding the doorframe with both hands before pressing Will carefully into it without breaking the kiss. Will threw both hands around his middle and pressed their bodies together.

When they parted, Hannibal had to stay still for a second, catching his breath with his forehead pressed into Will’s. He opened his eyes and looked at him, and it took him another second to gather the strength to say what he had to say, and not throw himself at Will and lose all sense of time.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered against Will’s lips, stealing a last kiss from him before leaning completely back.

“Tomorrow,” Will agreed, and then he gave Hannibal a sly smile before sliding his hands off of Hannibal’s back.

Hannibal felt himself wavering yet again in his decision to go, having that devilish creature in front of him. Will knew very well the effect that kiss would have on him, and it was exactly what he had meant to achieve. Hannibal smiled at him and finally moved away from the doorframe to retrieve his bag.

After saying goodbye to Will, he checked the clock in his wrist. He still had plenty of time, so he did as he had planned days before. First he went to his house to sleep a few hours. When the alarm rang in the middle of the night, he got up and got changed. It was finally time.

Hannibal had told Will the truth about Alana, but it wasn’t the only reason why he couldn’t stay overnight. After killing a man he had once attended in the ER a couple of years back, copying The Slasher’s style, the second part of his plan could now commence. Now what he needed was good luck, and that this killer would be as predictable as Hannibal thought he was. And Will’s request to the FBI to not divulge that he already knew the killer hadn’t been The Slasher was perfect; no serial killer liked having their work unrecognized or stolen.

Hannibal went to the suburbs around the one where he had left his body. The Slasher had shown a preference for those neighborhoods, and so it had been the clear choice. Much to his disappointment, he didn’t find a single soul in the street at that hour, and when the sun started to peak, he had to admit that it was time to retreat.

After meeting Alana and discussing what he wanted to do with the practice, even if that wasn’t his top priority at the that moment, he spent that Sunday with Will. But as he had done the previous day, after dinner he told Will he had to return to his house. He once again told him part of the truth: that the next morning, he would start looking for furniture for the office and meeting contractors to make a few changes in the adjacent rooms.

That night when he went out again, he spent hours prowling around the same area as the day before. He was so sure this killer would take the bait, and yet time was running out and he hadn’t found anything…

Just when he was about to call it for a day, he heard something. He stopped in his tracks and tilted his head to the alleyway. He heard it again; a muffled groan. That was the sound of… _Yes_. Struggle.

Hannibal went into the alleyway, and when he turned around the corner, he couldn’t help a small smirk springing to his lips. A man was on the ground, bleeding from a cut on his throat, and another was standing beside him, his back to Hannibal, merely watching the dying man.

“Hello,” Hannibal said.

The man in front of him tensed, startled, obviously not expecting anyone to catch him off guard.

When he turned around, Hannibal saw the same face from the police files and the news, only slightly changed. A white male in his mid-forties with ordinary features except for the faded scar on his jaw that made him easy to recognize, and the long hair on top of his head, short on the nape.

The man dying at The Slasher’s feet gurgled and brought one of his hands to his neck in a last ditch effort to hold onto his life. Desperate and useless, but an effort nonetheless. The Slasher, however, was very much focused on Hannibal. He raised the bloody hand with the knife in front of him, and Hannibal smiled with a slight tilt of his head.

“Don’t worry, I come in peace. I’m an admirer of your work.”

“What?” the man spat, obviously not expecting that.

“I’ve been watching your work for a long time. I even… tried to emulate you,” Hannibal said, trying to instill as much admiration into his words as he could.

“Are you… the fucker that copied me?”

Hannibal nodded once. “That’s correct. I needed to get your attention, and… it worked,” he said, pointing to the body on the floor, now completely still despite the blood that was still flowing from his neck.

The man looked from his victim and up to him again. Finally, he straightened and squared his shoulders. He still seemed wary, but at least he wasn’t gaping at Hannibal, and he lowered the hand with the knife a little.

“Alright, you got my attention. I’m listening.”

Hannibal took a single step towards him, pleased that this man wasn’t as foolish as he had feared he would be. Just fool enough.

“Very well. I think you’ll be very interested in what I have to say. Do you, by any chance, remember the police officer that almost caught you?”

The man narrowed his eyes, almost baring his teeth, and Hannibal saw the rage burning in his eyes.

“Will Graham,” the man said through clenched teeth.

Hannibal nodded and his smile widened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry to leave it here, BUT the next chapter is written and beta'd, so you guys won't have to wait too long :)
> 
> Also, I completely forgot to say it in the last update, but Meduszoa drew [these amazing NSFW arts](http://seduszoa.tumblr.com/post/152572027508/will-dragged-his-hands-up-to-hannibals-tie-and) of the fic's [Chapter 5](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6177574/chapters/14602111) *endless high-pitched screaming*
> 
> I will never stop saying it: thank you so, SO much for your support. Thanks to everyone who's reading, everyone who leaves comments, etc. You encourage me to keep going :)


	18. Chapter 18

When the pendulum swung back and Will opened his eyes, his breath hitched in his throat. He half coughed, half inhaled, trying to collect himself.

“Are you okay?” Cruz asked him from behind.

Will took another deep breath before turning around and facing both agents. He nodded.

“Yeah, it’s okay,” he said, and he ran both hands over his face to give himself another second to think. When he looked at them again, Davis seemed about to pressure him into answering the unasked question that was floating between them. “This is The Slasher.”

Davis frowned and then chuckled once, not kindly.

“So now it’s not a copycat?” he asked curtly.

Will looked at the man in the eye for a second. He saw himself leaping onto him and throwing him to the ground. Will blinked to erase that image from his mind and sighed.

“The last murder _was_ a copycat. This one is The Slasher,” he said, and he turned slightly to look at the body on the ground. “He was angry that someone copied his work, so he had to kill again, let everyone know _this_ is his design, not the other one.”

Will crouched beside the body and tilted his head.

“But he was interrupted. He was probably going to make the scene even more gruesome, but he didn’t have the time.”

“Like someone had caught him…?”

Cruz’s voice brought him back to reality, and he stood up. Will shrugged with one shoulder.

“I don’t know, maybe.”

Davis huffed out a sort of laugh, and Will turned to him again, annoyance rising inside him.

“So you’re saying that this is, what?” Davis asked, starting to circle the body with a dry smile. “A competition between nuts to see who kills better?”

“I don’t know…” Will repeated.

“Davis,” Cruz said in a low but firm voice, but her partner kept talking.

“Can you please enlighten me? Explain to me exactly how this scene is any different than the one from the other day. You said the other body was slightly hidden into an alleyway, and The Slasher preferred to leave his victims out in the open. So which one is it?” he asked, pointing around them at the alleyway.

“If you don’t like my answers you’re welcome to find your own, you know,” Will snapped at him.

“What did you just say?” the agent asked, pausing across from Will, the dead body between them.

“Stop right now, both of you,” Cruz said, putting herself in front of Will.

She looked first at her partner, and he huffed and turned around. She then looked at Will and nodded with her head towards the alleyway exit. Will swallowed and started heading out, Cruz walking right behind him. He was mad at Davis, but most of all he was mad at himself for having lost it like that. Once they were past the police cordon, Cruz made him stop and Will pursed his lips.

“I’m sorry,” Cruz said. Will’s eyes went to hers immediately, not expecting that at all. “You were out of line back there, but it’s our fault for putting you in this position. We shouldn’t have involved you in The Slasher’s case again…”

“No, it’s… It’s not that,” Will said, even if it was partly a lie.

Diving back into the Slasher’s mind had left him shaken. He had gotten used to how the Chesapeake Ripper’s murders felt, how easy it was for him to get into his shoes. Almost like he wasn’t in his shoes… but standing right beside him. The Slasher was completely different: too rough, crude.

Cruz sighed and touched his shoulder. He didn’t mind her contact.

“Look. Go home, get some rest. You don’t need to be involved in this case again.”

Will shook his head slightly. “I will go home. But I… I can consult on this case, really.”

Cruz dropped her hand and nodded. “We’ll talk about it. But for now… go home, okay? Take tomorrow off from Quantico if you need to.”

Will nodded at that, and Cruz returned inside the cordon. Will followed her advice, but didn’t go to Wolf Trap; he went to Hannibal’s house instead. Hannibal knew he was coming, so when he answered the door, he merely stepped aside and gave Will a peck on the lips as a hello. Hannibal had an apron tied around his middle and his sleeves rolled up. He walked with Hannibal to the kitchen, since he had clearly interrupted him, where the man resumed slicing potatoes.

“So?” Hannibal asked.

It took Will a minute to look away from Hannibal’s forearms, from the way the tendons in the back of his arm flexed with the knife’s movements.

“It’s The Slasher this time,” Will said.

Hannibal stopped slicing and looked at him with a slight frown.

“Not the copycat?” he asked, and Will shook his head. Hannibal nodded, not doubting his words. Will felt his throat tighten and warmth bloom in his chest at that, especially after what had happened with Davis. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Maybe later, yeah.”

Hannibal nodded but didn’t pressure him further. He moved the sliced potatoes to an oven tray on which there already sat a piece of meat that looked like sirloin pork in the very center. Hannibal put it in the oven and washed his hands in the sink.

“I had a misunderstanding with Agent Davis,” Will finally said.

Hannibal turned while drying his hands on the kitchen rag. “What kind of misunderstanding?”

“He doesn’t agree with my point of view about these scenes. He didn’t say it nicely.”

“That’s very rude on his part. You’re very good, that’s why they asked you to consult, so what reason could he have to doubt you?”

Will shrugged and then chuckled bitterly. “Because he’s an ass?”

Hannibal tilted his head, a sort of ‘can’t refute that’ gesture. He set the rag on the counter and approached Will. When he wrapped him in a comforting hug, Will closed his eyes and leaned into him, nosing Hannibal’s neck and inhaling. He smelled like soap and aftershave. Will linked his hands around Hannibal’s back and hummed, content.

“How was your meeting with the contractors?”

“Good. They will start working on the office’s room this week, and they said it wouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks to finish.”

Will smiled and moved back to look him in the eye.

“In time to open after your birthday.”

Hannibal smiled too and leaned in, brushing Will’s lips with his own before kissing him in earnest.

“You’re right. Which reminds me,” he said, pulling back. Will unwillingly let him go from the embrace. Hannibal searched in one of the kitchen cabinets and took out a white, beautiful paper with a list of recipes that he then set on the kitchen island. “We need to start thinking about what we will serve for the dinner party.”

Will arched an eyebrow. “We? Isn’t that something you should do? It’s not like I’m the expert here.”

“You don’t have to be. I’ve already written down a few different menus that we could serve, but… I’d like for both of us to decide it together. Is that all right?”

Will smiled again and took the note to read some of the recipes. His stomach growled just at reading them, the smell of the meat in the oven not helping at all. He looked at Hannibal again and nodded.

“That’s perfectly alright.”

****

Will let out a low moan, and felt Hannibal smiling into the crook of his neck. He continued pressing light kisses on the sensitive spot behind his ear, and without any warning, he took Will’s earlobe between his teeth and nipped it. He groaned again, tightening his hold on Hannibal’s biceps.

Hannibal pulled back and looked at Will the way he sometimes did, as if he was admiring something beautiful, something worthy of adoration. Will felt a wave of heat surge through him, his cheeks flushing as he moved from the wall and pushed Hannibal backwards with his body and a kiss. But Hannibal seemed to have a very different idea of how he wanted this to go, because when he turned both of them around and pressed Will into the mattress of his bedroom, he left Will’s lips and knelt on the floor, between Will’s legs.

Hannibal unfastened Will’s belt at a painstakingly slow pace, taking his time to work the strap through the loops and then sliding it completely off and leaving it on the floor. He then unbuttoned Will’s pants and slid them to his mid-thigh with one tug but with the same calm as everything he was doing. Will propped himself up with both hands on the mattress and lifted his hips so Hannibal could drag them slowly off, which he did along with his underwear, and then he took his own shirt off, throwing it away.

Hannibal had set a slow rhythm since they had started kissing downstairs, in the library. They had been discussing The Slasher and the copycat, how Will had felt both of their scenes so differently, and how Will was sure it wasn’t the same killer. The conversation had eventually drifted back to Hannibal’s dinner party, which was less that two weeks away, and that somehow had ended with Will’s lips against Hannibal’s neck and his hands trying to work his slacks. But Hannibal had stopped him, taking his hand and dragging him out of the library and upstairs.

“Are you sure you’re here, with me?” Hannibal asked him now, looking up at him from his kneeled position.

Will blinked and realized he had been staring at one of the buttons of Hannibal’s shirt. His brow was slightly furrowed, too, so he cleared his throat and relaxed his features. He wriggled his hips a little on the edge of the mattress, missing Hannibal’s hand on him.

“Yes, sorry. I was just…”

“Still thinking about the case?”

Hannibal placed both hands on Will’s hips and straightened, his sides sliding along the inside of Will’s thighs. He kissed Will on his neck, right below his jaw, and that made him tremble with pleasure, breathing out shakily.

“It’s natural that you’re distracted by it,” he said, kissing up to his jaw. “The Ripper has that effect on you.”

At that, Will opened his eyes, which he hadn’t even realized he had closed, but made no further movement as Hannibal kept pressing kisses to his neck and close to his ear, again.

“How do you know I think it’s the Ripper…?” Will asked in a whisper.

Hannibal leaned back at that, looking at him with a completely neutral expression. Will had thought about that, over and over since he saw the scene: how much the copycat felt like the Ripper. But he hadn’t said it out loud, not even to Hannibal.

“The way you talk about him,” Hannibal said simply.

“How?” Will asked, genuinely curious now.

Hannibal seemed to consider this for a second, but not because he seemed like he needed to think about it.

“With comprehension… and not only because of your empathy. With reverence, almost. You see the beauty in the unspeakable acts of humanity, and I think you see the Ripper’s as the worst and probably most graceful acts. You talked that way about the copycat killer. I merely put two and two together.”

They stood still for a long moment, Will’s chest going up and down with his slightly ragged breathing, neither of them taking their eyes off of the other. Will wasn't sure if he should pretend to be shocked at his words. Or wasn't Hannibal the one who should be shocked at his own words and what they meant? But neither seemed to be true.

He didn’t know what to say, or if he _could_ say anything, but he didn’t need to because in that moment he felt Hannibal’s hand palming his erection between their stomachs, and Will gasped but didn’t break their eye contact as he felt himself getting harder.

“Do you want me to go on, or shall I stop?”

 _Don’t stop_ , he thought, but Will only managed to shake his head a little before closing his eyes, and so Hannibal’s hand wrapped around him completely. Hannibal started stroking him slowly but purposefully up and down, thumbing at the head of his cock and making Will groan. He felt Hannibal leaning in towards him, so when their mouths met again, Will was already waiting for him with his lips parted. Hannibal kissed him gently at first, matching the movement of his hand, but when Will’s pleasure started building inside him, he slipped his tongue into Hannibal’s mouth, demanding more. Hannibal complied with his wordless request, tightening the grip of his the hand on Will’s hip and kissing him more roughly. But to Will’s frustration, Hannibal’s hand stopped altogether after a couple more tugs, setting it on his thigh. He started kissing down Will’s neck again, and once his mouth was free, Will grumbled, half in complaint and half because Hannibal’s mouth felt so good against his skin. But he wanted more, and so he bucked his hips up and bared his neck for him as Hannibal’s lips slid down the column of his throat. That worked partially, because Hannibal made the way to his nipples more quickly, but once he was there, Will fell onto the mattress with the first sweep of Hannibal’s tongue. Hannibal grabbed both of his hips and slid him to the edge of the mattress, and so he returned to his chest, making him groan and wriggle with every suck and lick over his nipples.

Hannibal finally continued his path down Will’s stomach, and when Will felt his lips over his cock in a light kiss, he let out a silent breath. He opened his eyes and raised his head to look down across his stomach. Hannibal’s gaze was locked on him, a predatory look that did nothing but rekindle the fire inside him.

Hannibal smiled and finally took him in his mouth, swallowing him down his throat, which made Will clench his stomach and moan with abandon. Will felt as if Hannibal was looking right into his very core. It wasn’t the first time he felt _seen_ and understood by Hannibal, but that was different. He wasn’t only guessing Will’s thoughts; he was accepting them unconditionally, despite how ugly and dark they were. Will wondered once again if maybe Hannibal could accept, too, the darkest parts of him, the ones he couldn’t even admit to himself.

Will set one of his hands on top of Hannibal’s head, caressing and then carefully gripping the locks there. Hannibal sucked harder as he moved his head up in answer, and when he swallowed him again, Will rolled his eyes to the ceiling and bucked his hips. Hannibal stayed almost still then, and encouraged him to move his hips with both hands, which Will did so immediately, chasing the warmth and slickness of Hannibal’s mouth.

Will gripped Hannibal’s hair tighter as a warning, and Hannibal pinned him down to the mattress with both hands on his hips as he sucked again. Will came with a loud cry, fire licking inside him in a wave that left him boneless, empty and full at the same time. When he opened his eyes, Hannibal was climbing onto the mattress and over him, licking the smirk on his lips, the locks of hair Will wasn’t gripping falling over his eyes. Will pulled him down for another kiss as he rolled both of them over.

****

Hannibal woke up and focused on the dark mat of curls in front of him. He smiled as he dragged his hand across the mattress, and took one of the wildest curls between his forefinger and thumb, caressing it and following its curve until it joined the rest. Will stirred then, inhaling and rolling over as he stretched out his limbs. Hannibal’s smile widened when he opened his eyes and groaned, sore from their activities the day before.

“Morning,” Will said with a sleepy voice and a soft smile.

Will wiggled towards him, draped his arm across Hannibal’s bare side and tucked his face under Hannibal’s chin. He hugged Will in response, feeling how warm his skin was, and caressed his back over the t-shirt he had borrowed from Hannibal’s wardrobe.

“Do you have to go to Quantico?” he asked after a few seconds of merely feeling Will breathing against him.  
“Yeah… They told me to take the day off, but I want to go, see how the case is going.”

“Can you come back for dinner? I want to make a special dinner tonight.”

“Of course,” Will said, but he moved back and gave him a sly smirk. “Special, huh?”

Hannibal smiled again. “Yes.”

“Naughty special, or?” he asked, and Hannibal felt Will’s foot sliding along his calf.

“I’m afraid that’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait until tonight.”

Will pouted but he soon chuckled. Hannibal leaned in and nuzzled beside Will’s nose.

While they had breakfast downstairs, Will told him he would drive by his house after work to check on the dogs – since he had asked Beverly again to check on them the night before – and told him he would return in time for dinner. When Will left, Hannibal went down to the basement. He had spent days cleaning everything, getting everything ready for tonight, and so the only piece of meat remaining in the freezer was the leg of a lamb. He took it upstairs, where he would start preparing it in a couple of hours for dinner. If everything went to plan, the meal would remain untouched, but the stage had to be perfect, and that included the food.

As he went through his morning routine, he realized he was excited and eager about the dinner. Hannibal wasn’t worried something would go wrong; he would be there the entire time to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. He was slightly worried, though, about how Will would take it. About how he would react when he knew the truth. But he was determined to go through with this, and he wasn’t going to stop now. Not when they were so close.

After a light lunch, he started getting everything ready. He prepared the lamb and the side dish of couscous salad, changed into the suit he had chosen, arranged everything in the library… In the evening, as the moment when Will would arrive got closer and closer, he set the table. He was lighting the candles when there were two loud knocks on the door. He smiled, smoothed out his suit, and went to answer it. And on the doorstep, there was the man he was waiting for.

“Mr. Harvey. Come in, please,” Hannibal said, stepping aside to let him come through.

The man that he had better known as The Slasher looked warily at Hannibal, as was natural. But he came in after looking around the street for what Hannibal guessed wouldn’t be the first time. Once inside, he kept his back to the wall and his eyes focused on Hannibal. _Not so dumb, after all_ , Hannibal thought.

“Please, come with me,” he told him, and guided him across the hall and to the kitchen.

The man followed two steps behind him, one of his hands inside his pocket.

“Mr.… Lecter?” the man asked when they went into the kitchen.

“Doctor,” Hannibal reminded him, circling around the kitchen island and looking at the other man.

The night in the alleyway, Hannibal had told him his proposal. To make him trust him, he had shared with The Slasher personal details like his address, his name and how he had met Will – omitting, of course, the nature of their relationship.

“Dr. Lecter, then. What is this?” he asked, shrugging and looking around. “Where is Will Graham?”

“Patience,” he scolded. “Mr. Graham will be here any minute now. But I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”

The man tensed immediately, the hand in his pocket diving further. He surely was holding a knife.

“What the hell does that mean?”

Hannibal smiled. The man in front of him took his knife out of his pocket.

****

Will was drumming his thumbs against the steering wheel when the speakers sounded with his phone’s ringtone. He frowned, since he had left Quantico not long ago. But when he looked at the screen, he saw Hannibal’s name on it.

“Hey, I’m on my-“

“Will?”

The tone of Hannibal’s voice was enough to silence him immediately.

“Hannibal? What is it, why are you whispering?”

He heard something rustling at the other end of the line, and then Hannibal breathed out quietly.

“Will. I’m all right, but… there is someone in the house,” Hannibal said in a whisper, tension filling his voice.

“What?!”

“I think… I think it’s The Slasher.”

Will felt suddenly cold, as if all the heat in his body had run away, and he gripped the wheel tighter. He forced himself to breathe through the lump in his throat. He blinked and then his mind started working.

“Have you called the police?”

“Not yet. I called you first,” Hannibal explained.

“Alright, I’ll call them. Hannibal, listen to me. Stay hidden in the bathroom or your walk-in closet. I’m only ten minutes away, okay?”

Will stepped on the gas pedal, passing two cars. He didn’t have a siren, so he would have to honk at the cars if they didn’t let him through.

“Yes,” Hannibal said. He sounded unafraid, but Will knew that could be the shock.

“I’m going to hang up now, but _please_ stay hidden.”

“I will.”

The line beeped once, and Will looked from the road to the screen, where it said ‘call ended’. He blinked twice and finally reacted, dialing Agent Cruz’s number as he navigated through the cars as fast as he could.

****

The door wasn’t locked. When Will turned the doorknob, it opened slowly, revealing Hannibal’s darkened foyer. Will stepped inside, gun pointed in front of him and steps measured to be as silent as he could. Once he had swept the living room with his gaze, he continued towards the hallway. Light was spilling from the dining room at the end of it, at his right the kitchen was illuminated too, and there was a dim orangey light coming from the library at his left that Will guessed would be from the fireplace. He looked at the kitchen and took a step towards it, but he heard a groan coming from the library, so he turned and pointed his gun to the ajar door there.

“FBI, don’t move! I’m armed and will shoot on sight!” Will shouted.

He opened the room with a gentle kick, and the first thing he saw as he walked in was Hannibal, lying facedown between the fireplace and the coffee table. Will’s missed a beat at seeing Hannibal unmoving, but in that moment he groaned and propelled himself up with both hands as he looked up. Will’s heart raced inside his chest at seeing him alive, even though he had a bleeding wound on his head. Will took a couple of steps forwards, and then Hannibal’s eyes widened as he looked at Will’s left.

“Will!” he yelled.

That was enough to make him turn around, but he did so a second too late. Someone came from behind the door and tackled Will before he could react. Air knocked out of his lungs, he fell on his back, the blow causing him to drop his gun too. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a too familiar face sitting astride him, with one hand pushing him against the floor and the other raised above him, holding a knife.

“Good to see you again, officer,” he said with a crooked smile.

When The Slasher dropped his hand, Will finally reacted, stopping the movement with his forearm against the man’s, and grabbing the hand with the knife to try to push him away. But the man was bigger and stronger than Will, and when he used all his strength, despite Will’s best efforts, he watched the knife get closer and closer to his chest. He panted, groaning with the exertion… and suddenly all the weight on top of him disappeared. Will caught his breath as he looked to the side in time to see Hannibal landing with The Slasher in an effective tackle, but one that didn’t last long. As soon as the man regained his balance, he elbowed Hannibal, throwing him aside and already looking back at Will.

Will rolled onto his side and got up, searching the floor with his gaze until he spotted his gun under the piano, where he crouched and took it. He got to his feet, gun pointing up just in time. The Slasher froze right in front of him, the knife clutched in his fist and his chest heaving up and down. He nodded towards Will’s hands.

“What are you going to do with that, _officer_? You couldn’t use it the first time…” the man said.

Past the man, Will saw Hannibal getting up with difficulty from where he had landed. Their gazes met, and Will saw that he was okay, so he focused back on The Slasher.

In that instant, he remembered perfectly the moment when he had encountered this man for the first time. He remembered the warehouse and walking through the aisles, junk stored everywhere. He remembered being so tense… And then the man, coming from one of the warehouse’s rooms and freezing when Will pointed the gun at him. He remembered what he had felt, because it was the same thing he was feeling now as he looked right into the man’s brown eyes. But it was also slightly different, because now he didn’t feel scared of how he was feeling, as he had been that first time.

Will heard then the unmistakable sound of sirens in the distance, responding to the call. He clenched his jaw, tightened his hold on the gun. The Slasher misunderstood this as Will hesitating again and his entire body tensed in preparation, lifting the knife a little and beginning to take another step towards him. Will raised the gun from a spot in the man’s side to the middle of his chest and fired. He shot once, twice, and kept shooting until the man staggered backwards, hitting the table where Hannibal usually kept his drawings and collapsing onto the floor, facedown.

Will stayed completely still, breathing through his mouth and with gun still pointing at him even though he knew he was already dead. The blood flowing from the multiple wounds slowly covered the man’s hand, the knife glinting between his now limp fingers.

Will finally looked up and locked eyes with Hannibal, who stared back at him, frozen still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I did make you wait for this chapter in the end! But hey, here it is!   
> I was SO looking forward to reach this chapter of the story... We're so close to the end! :)


	19. Chapter 19

At some point, Will stopped hearing the police and the ambulance’s sirens. He stopped seeing the red and blue flashing lights, listening to the officers barking orders to other officers, the cars left with the ignition on, the murmurs of the neighbors that had gathered on the street.

The only thing he saw now was Hannibal’s face beside him, and the only thing he could hear was his voice, answering the standard and necessary questions from the paramedics. Once they finished with Hannibal, now wrapped in a blanket and sitting in the back of the ambulance, they turned to Will, sitting right next to him. The only one he had been concerned about was Hannibal, since he had been the one to get the worst of the fight, if one didn’t count the body in Hannibal’s library. Hannibal had a wound on his forehead that had required a couple of stitches, another cut on the bridge of his nose, a blow to his left eye that would surely turn purple, and a slight strain on his left ankle. The paramedics told him they always recommended going to the hospital, but after the stitches and with proper care, it wouldn’t be necessary to go.

Only then did Will breathe for the first time since he had looked up from The Slasher’s limp body. He had dropped the gun from his hand and walked to Hannibal, where he had slumped next to him and taken his face in his hand, asking him over and over if he was okay, if he was hurt, as his hands searched for more wounds than the ones he could see. Hannibal’s hands had been steady when he had put them over Will’s to soothe him, telling to breathe in and out.

Now, with the paramedics confirming that Hannibal would be okay, he did breathe. When they turned to him, Will tried to dismiss them with a gesture of his hand and head, but he still had to assure them he wasn’t hurt. It wasn’t completely accurate, since he had received a blow and his back hurt, but it was nothing that the paramedics could do anything about. And just when Will managed to send them away, two familiar faces got out of a car that had pulled up a little outside the police cordon. Agent Davis went straight to the inside of the house; Agent Cruz, however, walked to them, showing her badge when a policeman raised his hand to stop her. Will squeezed Hannibal’s hand a little, which he had been holding under the blanket, and stood up as she approached them.

“Will. Are you two alright?” she asked, her eyes going from Hannibal’s face to Will’s.

“We are…” he said, looking at Hannibal again for a second and sighing. “It could’ve been much worse.”

“You don’t say,” she said, but not rudely. She actually looked concerned. “Was it definitely The Slasher…?”

Will nodded, and saw behind closed eyes the look on the man’s face right after he had shot at him. He blinked to focus on the Agent’s face.

“It was.”

“How did he end up here?” Cruz asked, her brow furrowed.

It was the question Will had been asking himself since they had gone out of the house, helped by the paramedics and the police. After Hannibal had called him, he hadn’t had time to think, not really. But now he had, and the answer was easy, but it made him feel _so_ angry with himself…

“I… I guess he could’ve followed me from the crime scene yesterday and assume I lived here. He probably has been watching us, waiting for the moment in which he could take only one of us at a time.” Will paused, and then he pursed his lips. “I should’ve been more careful, we all know how some killers like watching their own crime scenes.”

“Will,” Hannibal said simply from behind.

“This isn’t on you, Will,” Cruz said, and he nodded, even though he wasn’t all that convinced. Cruz sighed. “Has anyone taken a statement from you two yet?”

Will shook his head. “An officer wanted to, but I showed him the badge and sent him away. I wanted the paramedics to take a look at him first.”

Cruz nodded, and then Hannibal moved, sliding to the edge of the ambulance and getting up with difficulty. Will turned and his hands went to Hannibal’s elbow out of instinct, helping him up.

“I’m ready to give my statement or answer any questions necessary,” he said, his voice coming out slightly hoarse.

“Don’t worry, there will be time for that,” Agent Cruz assured Hannibal. “Right now, I think the best would be for you two to go and get some rest. Do you have a place to stay?” she asked Hannibal.

“Yes,” Will answered immediately. “Yes, he does.”

“Okay. You know how this goes, the lab guys will be busy with the scene for at least a couple of days,” she said to Will, and then looked over Hannibal again. “So take a few clothes, any other thing you need, and go rest. We will talk about the statement tomorrow.”

Hannibal nodded, and he slid the blanket off his shoulders to leave it on the ambulance’s floor.

“Do you need help?” Will asked him, and Hannibal shook his head with a weak smile before going inside with a slight limp.

Will watched him until he disappeared through the main door. He thought of how different Hannibal’s house looked in that moment, surrounded by cars, people constantly going in and out, that much noise… It looked like a completely different place, not like the sanctuary Will had found there.

“Will,” Cruz’s voice and the light touch of her hand on his elbow brought him back to reality. He blinked slowly as he looked at her. “Are you alright?”

Will thought about that question. _Was_ he all right? He had just killed a man, taken a life for the first time… But he didn’t feel any different than before. He thought that maybe it was still the adrenaline in his system, or maybe he was in shock.

“I’m fine.”

“It’s okay not to be, you know?” she said, and he looked her in the eyes. She sighed after a couple of seconds, and squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

She finally went into the house, and Will stared at the main door. He didn’t know how long it was until Hannibal came out of the very same door, holding his duffle bag in a hand and his coat in the other. Will immediately moved, walking to him and taking both things from him.

The ride home was silent, though not uncomfortable. Once they got out of Baltimore, Will reached over the gearshift and put his hand on top of Hannibal’s. The other turned his hand over and surrounded Will’s before squeezing it in his own.

When they made it to Wolf Trap, the dogs jumped and barked around them, but Will sent them to their beds with a single gesture, the animals sensing that was not the time. Will turned the thermostat up and then went to his bedroom, where Hannibal was sitting on the edge of the bed, on the side he usually slept on. Will swallowed hard and thought about a million things to tell him. In the end, he just walked over to him and stood in front of him. Hannibal looked up and, after a second, put both hands on Will’s hips and pulled him closer, nuzzling Will’s stomach and burying his nose against his shirt. Will simply cradled his head with both hands and held him there, neither of them moving for a long time. When Hannibal pulled slowly back, Will simply offered him his hand and guided him to the bathroom.

Blood was a messy thing. Every time Will had come into contact with a large enough amount of blood, he had been surprised to see just _how_ messy it was, and this time wasn’t any different. He helped Hannibal undress slowly, the man hissing and wincing slightly when he had to bend one of his arms. Under what had been a beautiful, good shirt now covered in blood, there was even _more_ blood; having fallen in a stream from his nose and the wound on his forehead, down to his chin and neck, staining the shirt and over his chest, and on his hands. Will wondered how much would be his and how much The Slasher’s, and he wished it would be more from the latter. Once Hannibal was down to his underwear, it was Will’s turn to undress, and he noticed for the first time that he was even worse than Hannibal despite not having bleeding injuries himself; his coat and shirt were completely stained with splashes of blood, along with the front of his pants. And when he looked at himself in the mirror, he saw that his face and hair were the same. In his case, he knew exactly how much of the blood was from The Slasher, the one on his hands being the only that was Hannibal’s.

Hannibal was the one who had to get up from the toilet’s lid and take Will’s hand, pulling him to the water in the shower that was already running, the steam of hot water getting out from above the glass door.

They washed the blood away with each other’s help, although Will tried to do most of the work. He scrubbed Hannibal in the places he knew were safe from any injuries, and carefully rubbed the blood from the spots closer to where he knew Hannibal was in pain.

Once they were both dry and clean out of the shower, they each put on a pair of their respective underwear and got under the covers. Will shivered at the cold from the sheets, and he rolled over, facing Hannibal. He was already looking at him, and even in the darkness of the room, he could distinguish the cuts on his face.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Will asked him in a whisper.

“I am.” He paused, and Will could only hear his own heartbeat, beating rhythmically in the ear he had pressed against the pillow. “Are you?”

He nodded, and Hannibal’s hand went out of the covers to carefully cup his cheek.

“Will.”

“I’m okay,” he said for the tenth time that night. But it was the only one in which he realized that he was telling the truth. “I… am.”

Will swallowed with difficulty and moved closer to him. Hannibal understood what he wanted, and so he rolled onto his other side, his back to Will. He hugged him from behind and pressed him tightly against his chest, careful of his injuries. Then he buried his nose in the crook of Hannibal’s neck while Hannibal caressed the hand Will had on Hannibal’s stomach and then took it, interlacing their fingers.

“Sleep now, Will.”

His eyes closed easily.

****

Will woke up with a jerk.

He could still smell the coppery scent of blood, see the crimson red of his dream… But it hadn’t been a nightmare. The reason why he woke up and looked around confused was because Hannibal wasn’t pressed against him, as he had been last night.

Will got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to wash up, and then to the living room, where he found Hannibal in the kitchen. It was something that he was used to seeing by now, Hannibal moving around Will’s kitchen as if it was his own. And precisely for that reason, it shocked him. It was such a normal, domestic scene, that it was very strange seeing it after what had happened.

Hannibal looked up from the coffee maker and the knot in Will’s throat returned. In the morning, with the sunlight spilling from the windows, Hannibal’s eye looked even more purple than Will had thought, the wounds redder and bigger.

“Morning.”

Will nodded in acknowledgement, not trusting his voice in that moment, and walked to the table at the same time Hannibal did. They sat across from each other, and Hannibal poured the steaming, freshly-made pot of coffee into the two mugs between them. Will wrapped both hands around his own immediately, feeling the warmth and closing his eyes with a sigh. When he opened them again, he focused on Hannibal’s face, examining it with his gaze, and he finally reached out across the table to caress his cheek with a hand. He first skimmed his forefinger over the cut on the bridge of his nose, and then let his fingers graze his left cheek, going around the purple circle of his eye and finally setting his palm against his cheek, burying his fingers into his hair. Will let out a faltering sigh, and Hannibal leaned into his touch.

“Don’t say you’re sorry, Will.”

Will chuckled bitterly as he fought the trembling of his lips that threatened to result into tears.

“What if I am…?”

“You shouldn’t be. This was not your fault.”

Will dropped his hand and looked down to his coffee. He took a sip only to try to swallow the knot down. When he set it back on the table, Hannibal put both hands over his, making him look up again. He waited until Will was ready to speak.

“I feel… like I’ve dragged you into my world,” he said in a hushed voice.

“Will… I got here on my own. It was _my_ choice. But I do appreciate the company,” Hannibal said, smiling a little at the end, and so Will smiled, this time sincerely, as a tear rolled down his eyes.

“It was still my fault. If it hadn’t been for me, The Slasher wouldn’t have gone to your house, and you wouldn’t have been about to die.”

Hannibal suddenly released his hands, and Will used that moment to wipe the tears from his cheeks. Hannibal got up from his chair and Will frowned, but he merely moved to the chair between them, moving it until he was right next to Will. Hannibal took one of his hands again, and made him look at him with a gentle finger under his chin. Will felt completely exposed and safe at the same time when he looked into Hannibal’s maroon eyes again, the color now even more accented because of the contrast with the purple around one of them, and the red from the other wounds.

“The only thing you are responsible for, is saving my life and your own.”

Will wanted to refute that, too. He wanted to tell Hannibal he was wrong, that that wasn’t the only thing he was responsible for, because it didn’t feel like he had simply acted in self-defense. But he didn’t have the strength to do it, and so he merely leaned into Hannibal, placing his head on his shoulder and letting Hannibal wrap him in a hug.

****

They made the mandatory trip to Quantico that very same morning after eating some breakfast and getting changed. Neither Will nor Hannibal wanted to postpone it, so Will called Silvia Cruz and arranged the meeting.

Hannibal looked around them as they walked into the belly of Quantico, curiosity clear in his face when they started going through the hallways reserved only for agents and other employees. But once they met Agent Cruz and she led them to a stark office to take their statement, Hannibal turned into his calm, serene self. Will saw the change happening in front of him, and he turned to the Agent as she started with the questions.

He knew the procedure, and he had been at the receiving end of the questions before, but never like this, never for having taken a life. He noticed how the questions where sharper, even if this wasn’t an investigation. There was a body, there was a killer, and everyone knew who, how and why it had happened. Or, at least, a version of the truth.

“You didn’t recognize the man when you saw him in your doorstep?” Agent Cruz asked Hannibal right after he started telling how it had been for him.

“I did, but these things happen so fast. He introduced himself and told me he was a friend of Will’s. I recognized him right after that, but it was too late already; he blocked the door with his shoulder when I tried to close it, and after that, I just ran into the house,” Hannibal explained.

Will looked at him, at his hands linked in his lap, the slight pout on his lips and almost imperceptible frown. He tried to imagine Hannibal running away from The Slasher, and somehow he couldn’t. He _knew_ Hannibal had had to run away from him at some point, of course; he had called him once he was hidden. But he had also seen the way Hannibal had moved and attacked him, and he knew how calm and collected Hannibal was. For some reason, his mind just failed at seeing Hannibal as the frightened, running victim, as the rabbit in front of the wolf.

“What happened then?” Agent Cruz asked after writing something down on a pad.

“I hid in the walk-in closet of my room, from which I called Will,” he said, and turned to him. Will simply nodded; Cruz knew that part of the story, since she had been the next to receive the call from Will. “But that didn’t last too long. I heard him walking upstairs and into the guests’ room. I knew it was a matter of time until he found me, so I thought I’d better try to get out of the house. Unfortunately, when I went out of my bedroom, I ran directly into him… and that’s when the fight started.”

Hannibal paused, and looked at Will again. His eyes went to Hannibal’s wound on his forehead.

“I managed to defend myself reasonably well, considering he had a knife and I did not, but I think… I think he didn’t mean to kill me, not yet. He was there for…”

“Me,” Will finished for him when Hannibal hesitated.

“He was there to kill both of you, probably,” Agent Cruz interrupted. “But yes, it makes sense that he wanted to keep you alive until Will appeared. Just in case he needed an emotional leverage against you,” she said that last thing looking at Will, and he felt a shiver running down his spine.

He stopped his mind before it could wander on the hypothetical where he hadn’t gone to Hannibal’s house that night and The Slasher had taken Hannibal as a hostage. Will would’ve ended up doing anything the bastard asked him to.

“I managed to go downstairs, but didn’t make it to the door,” Hannibal continued when Agent Cruz looked at him again. “After a short struggle in the kitchen and in the library, he hit me there with the fire iron, and I lost consciousness. When I woke up… Will was there.”

Agent Cruz nodded and looked over at Will, and he reacted after a second, realizing it was his turn to relive what had happened.

“Yes, when I got there I… found him lying in the library. I got sloppy when I saw him and didn’t check the room properly. That’s why he caught me off-guard when he leaped on me. He disarmed me and we struggled on the floor… until Hannibal helped me get him off me. He got the blow to his eye and nose there,” he said, looking at him sideways. “After that I managed to recover my gun, and…”

He suddenly went silent. He knew well how the story continued, but then he couldn’t say exactly the truth.

“Will?” Agent Cruz said, and Will blinked, realizing he had been silent for far too long.

“I warned him not to get closer, but he raised the knife and jumped on me again. I shot him until he fell.”

Will felt Hannibal’s hand on his then, and he laced their fingers together before looking at him. He nodded at Will, as if telling him he was right there, with him, and he felt his chest swell.

“Okay,” Agent Cruz said, closing the pad and putting it aside on her desk.

“Is that all?” Will asked, trying not to sound too relieved.

“Yes. Well, no. Would you mind giving us a second, Dr. Lecter?” she asked looking at Hannibal.

“Of course.”

Hannibal squeezed Will’s hand in his, and then released him as he got up and limped outside. Agent Cruz waited a moment after the door closed, and then she pursed her lips.

“I guess you know what comes now, but… You’ll need to see a psychiatrist. I’m sorry, but it’s procedure. It will probably just be a session or two, just to make sure you’re okay to get back to the field,” she said, and Will tilted his head as he huffed out. He wondered why they always assumed he wanted to get back to the field without asking him. But then, he always ended up saying yes… “You have taken a life, Will. We know it was self-defense, but it’s still necessary.”

Will finally looked into her eyes, and nodded twice.

“Alright. Tomorrow?”

“I’ll arrange it for this Friday. In the meantime, take a couple of days off, please.”

Silvia Cruz gave him a firm look, and Will knew she wouldn’t accept a no this time. He merely nodded and got up.

When he waked out of the office, he found Hannibal patiently waiting with his hands linked behind his back. But they had only just locked eyes with each other when he heard someone calling his name from the opposite end of the hallway. Will turned in time to receive a crushing hug.

“Ugh!” he groaned at the strength of the embrace, only half joking.

“Shit, sorry!”

Beverly finally pulled back with a concerned look, but Will smiled at her.

“Nice to see you too, Bev.”

He had turned on his phone that morning and seen the few text messages people had sent him asking if he was okay, most of them from Beverly. But he had forgotten to reply to them as he had been thinking only about the meeting with Cruz.

“Don’t joke around, Graham. I was worried about you!”

“I know, sorry…”

She pursed her lips, but finally sighed. “It’s okay, I asked Silvia when you didn’t answer your phone and she told me you were fine.”

He nodded, remembering Beverly had told him they were somewhat an item now. But he had been so busy, he hadn’t even been able to arrange to meet her to catch up properly.

“So… you didn’t learn anything from our time being partners, did you?” Beverly asked, and Will frowned, confused. “What did I tell you about going Jackie Chan on people?” she joked, a fond but still worried smile on her lips.

Will chuckled, remembering their joke.

“I thought I was more like Bruce Willis,” he said, and she finally laughed as she nodded.

In that moment, Will felt Hannibal moving behind him, and he turned to see him standing beside him, his jacket draped over his hands.

“Dr. Lecter,” Beverly greeted him with a nod. “I’m glad to see you’re okay, too.”

“Thank you, Miss Katz.”

After that, Beverly made him promise that he would call or text at some point, and Will agreed after rolling his eyes affectionately. When she went away to continue working, Hannibal and Will headed out of Quantico, Hannibal limping beside him and their hands linked.

****

Will could feel the fire’s warmth reaching him from the corner of the room, heating his legs the most, since they were the closest to the fireplace. He adjusted his head on Hannibal’s lap and curled up under the blanket. Chloe groaned at his feet, since he had moved her accidentally. He opened his eyes and looked at her, but she was already burying her nose under her thigh, curling up exactly as he had done. The hand that had been resting on his side suddenly moved, and Will hoped he hadn’t woken Hannibal up too, since he had been still for a long time. He started touching Will’s hair as he had done when they had first decided to lie on the couch with the TV on but muted.

“I thought you were asleep,” Hannibal said, and Will’s lips curved slightly upwards.

“I thought _you_ were asleep.”

Hannibal continued caressing him, burying his long fingers into Will’s hair and tracing a slow path from his forehead to the crown of his head. Will’s eyes closed without him realizing it, the cracking of the firewood the only sound in the house apart from their breaths.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Will’s eyes opened again. Since they had left Quantico and returned to the house, they had barely spoken. But Will _had_ been thinking, because he couldn’t avoid it, as much as he wanted to. And now, with Hannibal asking him, the thought that has been on his mind returned.

“I’ve been thinking that… maybe you were right.”

Will focused on one of the dog figurines on his shelves. He didn’t remember where he had gotten that one. Maybe a gift from one of his co-workers… or maybe something he had bought in a gift shop somewhere.

“About what?” Hannibal asked after a short pause.

“You once asked me if it would’ve felt right killing The Slasher. You asked me if I would’ve… liked it.”

Hannibal’s fingers stopped caressing his hair, and Will pulled himself up after a moment, sitting up and looking at him for the first time. Hannibal was gazing at him, waiting… and Will felt the tears burning in his throat.

“Shouldn’t this feel worse? I’ve taken a man’s life…”

“You feel bad because of how good it feels,” Hannibal guessed, and Will nodded.

Will felt Hannibal’s hand covering his own in his lap. He turned it over and held it tightly, and then he looked Hannibal in the eye again. The flames of the fireplace gave his eyes an even stranger color than usual.

“You know… sometimes you sound exactly like the voice in my head,” Will whispered.

Hannibal tilted his head and the tiniest of smirks appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?”

Will pursed his lips and let himself slide on the couch until he was leaning against Hannibal again, his head on his shoulder. Hannibal pulled him even closer with an arm around his back.

“I’m not sure.”

****

The office was somewhat similar to the one Hannibal had acquired. It was much smaller, and Will was fairly certain the decoration was not as nice as Hannibal’s would be once he opened his practice. It wasn’t an unpleasant decor, though; walls painted in blues and greys, all soothing colors. Will sighed and looked around him for the tenth time, as the voice of the psychiatrist tried to get his attention.

The woman was dressed in a very simple blue suit. Everything seemed to be fucking blue. The shoes, her eyes, her nails. All prepared to be reassuring for the patients.

When she started asking the questions, Will tried to answer them as truthfully as he could. She asked Will to tell her the story, even though he was sure she must’ve read a report on it already. He told her that, and she nodded with a smile, but said she wanted to hear it from him, anyway. And so he told her the story again… including the part he had added at Cruz’s office.

“So it was self-defense.”

“Of course,” he said, a little too curtly.

“There was no way of giving a warning shot, or shooting to wound him,” she said. Will wasn’t sure whether that was a question, but he still shook his head.

“He was going to keep coming at me until I was dead… or he was.”

She looked to her notepad and wrote something down. Will sighed again.

Half an hour - and a million questions - later, he was on his way out of the office with a paper that allowed him to get back in the field. Will got into his car, closed his eyes and stayed there for a long time. He wondered if Hannibal would be back in Will’s house already or if he’d still be at his own house, given that he had come with Will to Baltimore to pick up his car – since the foot he had injured was the left one and his car was an automatic, he had insisted that he was perfectly capable of driving, and it would be better for him to have the car at Will’s house ‘ _just in case_ ’ – as well as a few more clothes.

In that moment, a gentle knock on the window startled him, and he saw Agent Cruz’s face on the other side. She pointed at the opposite door with a questioning look and Will nodded, still a little confused at seeing her there. While she circled the car, he leaned over the gearshift and opened the lock on the passenger seat. When she got inside, a breeze of freezing air reached him and made the hair on his neck stand up.

“Hey,” she greeted him, and Will nodded as a hello. “I’m sorry to show up like this.”

“It’s okay,” Will said.

“So… how did it go?” she asked.

Will smiled a little, because he’d known that was coming. He pulled the paper the psychiatrist had given him from his coat and handed it to her.

“Good,” she said, skimming over it. “I’m glad she cleared you, Will.”

“Is that why you’re here?” he asked, nodding at the paper now in her hands.

“No, we’re going to a crime scene, not far from here,” she said, pointing through the windshield.

Will followed her gaze and saw Agent Davis sitting inside one of the cars parked in the street.

“The Ripper?” he asked, looking at her again.

“No, don’t worry. But actually, the reason why I dropped by _has_ something to do with the Ripper; I wanted you to know from me.”

Will frowned, but stayed very still as Cruz sighed looking at her hands, and then gazed up at him.

“They’re going to relieve us of the Ripper’s case.”

****

When Will came through the door, he froze under the threshold while the dogs received him by licking his hands and yapping. But Will’s focus was on the kitchen, where Hannibal was setting a tray with something cooked on it on the counter, which explained the wonderful meat smell in the house. It wasn’t, of course, the first time he’d found Hannibal cooking in his kitchen, but it _was_ the first time he’d arrived to his house to find Hannibal already there, cooking and moving around the kitchen. It made Will’s heart ache in his chest and his throat tighten in the best possible way.

“Will,” Hannibal greeted him, taking off his oven gloves and leaving them on the counter. Will didn’t even remember having oven gloves.

He finally moved into the house and closed the door behind him. He approached the kitchen counter after leaving his coat on the hanger, and Hannibal received him with a small, but soft smile. In that moment, with the purple circle around his eye and a few locks hanging from his forehead, he looked younger and more fragile than ever. Hannibal gave him a peck on the lips and returned to the food, which he started serving on two plates.

They ate mostly in silence, as they both decided to leave everything about work for later. Hannibal told him that his house was still a mess, but he had managed to pack a few more clothes, and he would hire a cleaning service tomorrow to get rid of the blood and the mess the FBI had left behind.

“So… are congratulations in order?” Hannibal asked once they had moved to the couch.

Hannibal poured steaming coffee into two mugs. He gave Will his own, without milk or sugar, as he knew by now that he liked.

“I guess. She approved me to go back to the field,” he said, cradling the mug of coffee between his hands and in his own lap.

“That’s good, Will. I’m glad.”

He pursed his lips and took a sip from the coffee. It was delicious, but his focus was elsewhere.

“There’s something else.”

Hannibal finally leaned back on the couch with his own coffee in hand. He waited patiently, as always, until Will decided to talk again.

“They’re going to take the Ripper’s case from us.”

“What?” Hannibal asked, frowning.

“Yeah, that was my reaction, too.”

Will took another sip and leaned against the back of the couch.

“Why?” Hannibal asked after a second.

“Politics, I guess. I don’t know… Apparently there’s going to be a change in the bureau. New bosses, new administration… and of course, they want the most important case handled by someone else, since we’re not making any progress.”

Hannibal stayed silent for a moment. Will sighed and turned to look at him for the first time since they had moved from the table. There was a thin line on Hannibal’s brow, the one that appeared there only when he was thinking really hard about something.

“When?”

“In about two weeks, or so,” Will said, and Hannibal nodded.

“What will you do then?”

Will tried to smile a little, but he was sure it came out as a crooked grin.

“I’m thinking about quitting. I was already considering it before, so…” He sighed and let himself slip down, sinking further into the couch’s cushions. “I just can’t stop thinking about how it’s all related.”

“What is?” Hannibal asked in a low voice.

“The Ripper and The Slasher’s case. I mean, maybe I’m wrong but… _if_ I’m right, and the copycat is the Ripper, I just… I don’t know why he did that.”

Will leaned forwards, supporting his elbows on his thighs.

“What if The Slasher is the one the Ripper was sending gifts to?”

“No…” Will shook his head, even though Hannibal himself didn’t even sound convinced. “He wouldn’t copy someone he respects. Those gifts… He’s in love. Whether it’s a physical, romantic love, or just pure admiration, he truly _is_ in love,” he explained, and looked back at Hannibal. His features were now relaxed, and Will continued. “He wants this person to know him, to see him through these gifts. Copying him would be–”

Will suddenly stopped talking, because the realization left him light headed. He straightened, gaze locked on a corner of the black TV screen, and set the coffee mug on the table.

“Will?” Hannibal asked, sitting up.

“Copying him would be disrespectful. It infuriated The Slasher… which was what he wanted. We had a couple of murders that looked like the The Slasher’s M.O., but it wasn’t him in the end. But _he_ wanted to draw him out, to get a reaction from him, to get him to kill again… and that’s exactly what The Slasher did.”

“With what purpose?”

“I don’t know yet,” Will said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. “But the only thing that the two cases have in common is…”

Will lowered his hand and for a second, he held his breath. He turned to Hannibal, who was waiting.

“Is what?” Hannibal asked, not impatiently, but encouraging him to finish the sentence.

“Me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for taking long between updates. I'm writing other things, and I've been busy with some others, too. BUT, thank you for your patience, and THANK YOU to those who are still reading this, it means the world to me<3
> 
> Also, IF YOU LIKE my fics, I'd ask you guys to [check this](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/post/155447757333/mongoose-book) out, AND [this giveaway](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/post/156407451033/mongoose-book-giveaway-as-you-may-know-a-little) (I'm sorry I can't talk about this, but as you may know, some accounts are being reported for containing links to donations pages, etc.)


	20. Chapter 20

Will emerged from the bedroom with his hair still damp from the shower. Hannibal was, of course, perfectly composed in his sweater and simple pants, despite not having showered yet. He was behind the kitchen counter, a wooden box in front of him. Will had seen that box in Hannibal’s kitchen before, but had never paid it much attention. Now, seeing it in his own kitchen sparked his curiosity.

“What is that?” he asked as he approached the counter.

“My recipe box.”

Will raised an eyebrow and bent his neck to look at the box sideways. There were multiple small white cards inside, and Hannibal was skimming his fingers over the first row. He stopped at one of them and took it out, leaving it with a few that were already on the counter.

“Why don’t you take a look at them? See if you like any of the recipes,” Hannibal said, eyeing Will across the counter.

Will finally walked around to join him and picked up the selected cards. On them, written in ridiculously beautiful and neat handwriting, were different recipes. From roasted fish, to sautéed meats, to side dishes that seemed a meal on their own.

“This is for the dinner party,” Will guessed after glancing through a few more.

“It is,” Hannibal agreed.

Will set the cards down and looked at Hannibal, at the way the bruise was changing its color in the closest part of his eye.

“I didn’t know whether you’d want to cancel this one too.”

Hannibal stopped going through the cards and turned to him with his head tilted.

“I don’t want to let circumstances decide for us once again. Besides, we are alive, victorious over the danger that threatened us. Doesn’t that deserve a celebration?”

Will observed Hannibal for a couple of seconds, and then he smiled and nodded.

“I guess you’re right.”

Smiling warmly, Hannibal held up one of the cards he had been looking through. Will took it and examined the ingredients.

“The night The Slasher attacked us, I had prepared lamb,” Hannibal said beside him, leaning closer to read the card over his shoulder, even though Will was certain he already knew by heart what it said. “I think we should serve that for the main dish, since you never got to taste it.”

“I like that,” Will said, turning to him and offering the card back. When Hannibal grabbed it with two fingers, though, Will leaned closer and gave him a peck on the lips before letting go of the card.

They kept talking about the dinner party during breakfast – or, more accurately, Hannibal kept suggesting entrées and side dishes, and the type of wine they could serve, exactly how many people they would invite, and did Will remember this and that person from the opera…? Will would’ve expected to grow tired of the conversation, but seeing Hannibal so enthusiastic despite what they had just been through and the injuries he still bore was enough for Will to be almost as excited as he was. Still, when they moved to the couch, he couldn’t help his mind wandering for a moment, his gaze fixed on the few papers he still had from The Slasher’s case on the coffee table, the ones he had spent sleepless nights studying…

“Will.” Hannibal’s voice brought him back to reality, and Will blinked as he looked at him.

“I- Sorry,” he said, as he let out a deep breath. “I’m listening.”

Hannibal smiled a little, leaning his shoulder against Will’s.

“Forgive me, I’m getting a little too enthusiastic, aren’t I?”

“No, no, it’s just… I was listening until a minute ago, I swear,” Will told him.

“Are you still thinking about last night?”

Will looked down for a moment, and he released a sigh before letting his head hit the back of the couch.

“Yeah… Sorry.”

Will felt Hannibal leaning forwards, probably to leave the notepad on which he had been writing the menu and the guest list on the coffee table.

“Do you think the Ripper wanted to kill you, since you’re getting too close? And that’s why he… copied The Slasher, to contact him and send him after you?”

Will frowned and looked up at Hannibal, the question taking him by surprise. “No. No, if he wanted to kill me he would’ve done it himself.”

“What, then?”

“I…” Will opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, not sure of what to say. “Don’t know. I can _feel_ that I’m really close, but it’s like a _tiny_ piece of the puzzle is missing. I can’t…”

“See the whole picture,” Hannibal completed for him.

Will nodded, but then he sighed again, and smiled tiredly at the other man.

“Can we just… I don’t know. Just be here, not talk about the Ripper or The Slasher or any other killer for a while?”

Hannibal smiled fondly and nodded. “Of course.” He scooted closer to Will and put one of his big hands on his knee, which he moved up to his thigh in a caress. Will felt the warmth of his palm through his clothes and was immediately soothed. “But don’t worry. All this is close to its conclusion, Will.”

Will parted his lips to ask him what he meant by that, but Hannibal leaned closer to press a gentle kiss against his temple. Will’s thoughts melted as he turned his head and body toward Hannibal, grabbing the sides of his sweater to pull him closer as he kissed him, this time on the lips.

****

On Monday, the dinner party’s preparations became even more of a reality. When Will’s alarm went off, he found that Hannibal was already up, sitting in the living room with the dogs at his feet. He was going through his notes and contact lists, writing down the phone numbers of everyone they had decided to invite. Will had turned down the idea of inviting Beverly and Silvia, the only two people he would even consider inviting to something like this. He told Hannibal that he would very much prefer a more intimate dinner with his boyfriend, best friend, and girlfriend of the aforementioned. Hannibal had agreed, saying they would organize something another time. That left all the guests as Hannibal’s acquaintances, and Will could already feel a ball of nerves in his stomach at the prospect of the night. Despite that, he felt much more comfortable with the idea than he would have months ago, or even than he had a month before at the opera. The mere thought of Hannibal being there, beside him, was more than enough to calm him.

When Will went to work that day, he found the entire department was hectic even though there wasn’t a new body, because of the change in management. He got hardly any work done, due to the constant interruptions of people asking him for files, some of them taking the files and leaving before he could even protest.

When Will finally left Quantico and returned to Wolf Trap, he expected to find Hannibal cooking or making phone calls in preparation for the dinner party. Instead, he found that Hannibal’s car wasn’t there. He got out of his own car and checked his phone, but didn’t find any messages since the one Hannibal had sent him after lunch, saying he was going grocery shopping. Will went into the house and confirmed that it was dark and empty, the dogs receiving him happily and then running outside to do their business. But what most alarmed him was that, on top of the kitchen counter, there were several shopping bags carelessly abandoned.

Will went out again and sat on the porch steps as he speed-dialed Hannibal’s number. It rang once, twice, and then he saw the unmistakable headlights of a car approaching in the distance down the only road that led to Will’s house. He stood, hanging up the unanswered call. Once the car was closer, Will confirmed with a sigh of relief that it was Hannibal’s, and so he took a couple of steps out to receive him, the dogs returning from around the house, Harry sitting under the porch and Chloe standing right beside Will’s leg.

“Will,” Hannibal said when he got out the car.

Will approached Hannibal and grabbed his forearms through the coat he was wearing, as if making sure he was whole.

“Where were you? I came home and I was really worried-”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Hannibal said, smiling a little and squeezing Will’s shoulder. “I should’ve texted you, but I was a little busy. I found something coming back, on the road.”

Will frowned, but Hannibal stepped back and walked to the trunk. Will heard the whine first, and his stomach clenched. When he approached Hannibal and the inside of the trunk was revealed, he let out a breath; there, in a bundle of blankets, was a small brown and white dog, probably a mixed terrier, his fur muddy and messy, clear signs that he had been abandoned for a while.

“He was on the side of the road, twenty minutes from here. I tried to get him in the car, but he wouldn’t let me, so I had to come here, leave the groceries and come back with some of your dog treats.” Hannibal paused, and Will smiled a little as he looked at him. “I didn’t want to leave him out there.”

They got to work then. Will took Harry and Chloe inside so the little one didn’t feel threatened and then gave him more treats until the dog let him take him in his arms. He bathed him in a plastic bathtub he had for the dogs. Hannibal’s helped, despite Will telling him he could do it alone. He smiled at seeing Hannibal bring him the buckets of warm water, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up and his hair dangling on his forehead.

When they finished, Will put the new dog in a cage and let Harry and Chloe out so they would all get used to each other’s presence. He sat on the porch bench, stretching his hurting back, and Hannibal brought him a hot chocolate and a blanket and sat beside him.

“What are you going to call him?” Hannibal asked, taking a sip from his mug.

“Maybe you should decide, since you found him and brought him here,” Will told him with a smile.

Hannibal looked at the dog with a pensive look, and Will slid to his side to bump their shoulders together.

“Please don’t call him something like Johann or Wolfgang. Remember that I’ll have to call him by that name, sometimes in front of people,” he said, and Hannibal chuckled.

“How about… Buster?”

Will raised his eyebrows, and looked at the tiny dog curled up on top of the blankets. Chloe was lying down on the floor right beside him, Harry still a little wary, but getting there.

“Buster,” Will repeated. The little dog raised his head with a sleepy face. “I think he likes it.”

He looked at Hannibal and they smiled at each other at the same time.

****

Due to the dinner party arrangements, Hannibal told Will he’d had to sleep on his own house until the party, on Friday. The cleaning service he’d hired would arrive the next day, he had to meet with the caterer, make floral arrangements… Will got tired just listening to everything Hannibal had to do. He offered his help, but Hannibal denied it, saying he already had his job at Quantico, and he preferred to see Will’s surprised face the day of the party. So on Tuesday, they shared their last dinner together, during which Hannibal happily announced that his office would be ready the next week, to which Will congratulated him and told him that it was ‘just in time for his birthday.’ After dinner, Hannibal disappeared into the bedroom to gather up his keys and wallet. When he emerged, Will was sitting on the couch.

He dropped his head onto the cushions dramatically and pursed his lips. “I hate this,” he told Hannibal.

Hannibal smiled a little and walked to the couch, where he sat beside Will, even though he was supposed to leave. But Will didn’t feel like letting him go that easily, and so he moved quickly, sitting up and straddling Hannibal’s thighs. Hannibal’s reaction was immediate, placing both hands on Will’s hips so he wouldn’t fall backwards.

“I wish you could stay…” Will said, and he felt his face getting hot at the confession.

“I wish I could stay, too. But the cleaning service-”

“No.” Will shook his head. He circled Hannibal’s shoulders with his arms, leaning closer. “I mean I wish you could stay… all the time.”

Will saw the realization wash over Hannibal’s face, a surprised expression that quickly gave way to a warm, adoring smile that made Will’s heart settle and quicken at the same time. Because Will wasn’t telling him he wished he could stay one or two nights. He truly wanted to be with Hannibal all the time, exactly as they had been the last few days...

“I… wish that, too,” Hannibal whispered, and Will bit his lower lip before leaning in.

He kissed Hannibal as his heart fluttered inside his chest, his fingers going up his hair. He sucked slowly at Hannibal’s bottom lip as the other did the same with Will’s upper one. But even though he didn’t want to, he forced himself to stop at that, since he knew Hannibal had to go. Will started to pull back, but Hannibal’s hands suddenly moved to his lower back, splaying his fingers and keeping him in place as he leaned in to prolong the kiss. Will parted his mouth with a low moan to welcome Hannibal’s urgent lips and tongue, and tightened his hold around Hannibal’s neck as the other did the same around his back, the movement lifting Will’s shirt.

When they pulled back breathless, Will looked at Hannibal wide-eyed, and then chuckled as Hannibal smiled widely.

“That’s… yeah. Okay,” he mumbled, not entirely sure what else he could say.

“How about we talk about this after the dinner party?” Hannibal asked, and Will nodded. It was the reasonable thing, since they already had enough to think about that week.

Will got up from Hannibal’s lap and the other did the same from the couch, picking up his things again and going to the door. Buster, who was still getting used to his new home and owner trotted towards him wagging his tail, Hannibal crouching to pat his head. Hannibal gave Will a last goodbye kiss at the door, and then Will watched him walk to his car with a now much less noticeable limp.

That night, Will’s bed felt huge without Hannibal occupying the other side, felt icy without his warmth covering Will, especially after what they had shared before he left. He had gotten so used to Hannibal, that now he felt strange without him, incomplete.

But soon, he thought, he may not have to feel that way again…

****

Will jerked up from the bed, startled, and glared at the phone vibrating on his bedside table. He frowned and looked at the clock, and when he saw that it was six in the morning, he felt a pang in his head in advance of what he knew was coming. He sat up and cleared his throat as he accepted the call.

“Yeah?” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Will, we have a crime scene,” Cruz’s voice answered him.

“Okay, I’ll-”

“We think it’s the Ripper,” she added.

Will opened his eyes and stared at the wall across from him, his heart pounding inside his chest. The Bureau would take the case from Cruz and Davis very soon, so this could be his last chance to figure out that missing part of the puzzle.

“Okay. Send me the address, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He got dressed and left the house as quickly as he could. He arrived at the address a little more than an hour later, in a neighborhood that reminded him of Hannibal’s, but with even bigger and more extravagant houses. Both agents stood outside, in the main entryway of the house, which Will thought it was weird, since only Silvia usually waited for him.

“Hey,” Silvia greeted him when Will went past the cordon and approached them. “The victims are Judith and Walter Hall,” she said, straight to the point, reading from a file she had in her hands. “We think-”

“Wait, who?” Will interrupted her.

“Judith and Walter Hall…” she repeated, and frowned as she looked at him. “Do you know them?”

“I… No, I don’t think so. But it rang a bell, I don’t know.”

“Well, they belong to the Baltimore elite. Maybe you’ve read about them in the paper, for some fundraising gala or whatever the hell rich people do nowadays,” Davis said. Will hadn’t read the newspaper in years, but he shrugged.

“Maybe.”

“Either way, have you had breakfast?” Davis asked him.

Will frowned, but shook his head. “No, I didn’t have time…”

“You’ll be thankful for that when you see what’s inside.”

Will was pretty sure he was exaggerating. He had seen gruesome scenes before, especially since he had been on the Ripper’s case. The agents walked with him inside the too richly decorated house, and Will tried to imagine how much worse this one could be… but his mind could never have predicted what he found when Cruz stopped in front of a pair of sliding doors and pulled them open.

At first, Will didn’t see anything. The living room was ample, decorated even more opulently than the rest of the house, as if they wanted to make sure everyone who laid their eyes on the house had in mind at all times that they were rich. But then, he saw the hand casually hanging off of the armrest of one of the two armchairs.

Will entered the room, knowing both agents had stayed outside but hadn’t closed the doors. When Will walked around one of the armchairs, what he saw there him hit him with the force of a tidal wave. He felt his eyes widen, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the two bodies, because he recognized them almost immediately despite the grim scene; they were Mr. and Mrs. Hall, the couple he had briefly met at the opera, the ones that had made Will felt so uncomfortable…

They were sitting in the armchairs, the posture almost casual as if they were just resting there for a while. But that obviously wasn’t what they were doing, because in both of their laps were their own hearts, perfectly set between their hands, as if they were merely holding a cup of coffee. Between the two armchairs was a small table, and on a beautiful, decorative plate, there were two things that disrupted Will entirely, if the identity of the couple hadn’t been enough: a pomegranate and a flower. But not just any flower. A pansy.

Will tore his gaze away from the bodies, feeling light-headed and sick, cold sweat already gathering on his back.

“Will?”

He heard the voice as a distant thing, but he forced himself to breathe in and out, and opened his eyes again. When he turned to look at Silvia Cruz, he realized he was shaking.

“What is it? Are you alright?”

Will started shaking his head, but even that small movement threatened to make him throw up, so he stopped immediately.

“I- No,” he managed to say.

“Will…?”

“I need to get some air.”

He rushed past both agents, Silvia looking at him wide-eyed and Davis frowning at his reaction. But he didn’t care about them at all, he just wanted to get out, and he needed to get out _now_. When he escaped the house, he leaned against the walls of the house and bent over, one of his hands on his knees. He felt his stomach churning, but he managed to take a deep breath.

After a couple of minutes, he felt someone’s presence behind him. He straightened and turned to look at Silvia Cruz. She didn’t pressure him, but he knew she was waiting for him to tell her what had just happened.

And the answer was so simple, yet so complicated…

Because he knew who the Ripper was. He only needed to say the words, say his name, and the problem wouldn’t be his anymore…

Will ran a hand over his face and finally opened his mouth. “I… I’m sorry, I haven’t been feeling well. The scene didn’t help, exactly.”

Cruz frowned, and Will wondered for a second if she knew he was lying. Or, not exactly lying, but not saying the truth, either. But after a couple of seconds, she nodded with her lips pursed.

“Of course, you can go get some rest. But before you go… Did you see anything? On the crime scene. Do you think it’s the Ripper?”

Will nodded, trying to control his breathing but not quite managing it.

“It… looks like him, yes.”

“I thought so. The thing that bugs me is… He didn’t take the organs this time. He left them right here with the victims. And why the pomegranate again… and with a flower?”

Will swallowed with difficulty, his brain shouting the answer to all that as Silvia’s mind was clearly still on the scene, but he forced himself to shrug and mumble an excuse.

When Silvia finally let him go, he forced himself to walk to his car, everything around him blurring into background noise, voices, car sounds… He did the car ride to his house on autopilot. Later he would be unable to remember the moments of leaving Baltimore or arriving in Wolf Trap. But he did arrive, and when he closed the door after letting the dogs out, the entire world seemed to silence itself altogether. Everything suddenly became too real, and he felt light-headed again. He leaned against the door and squeezed his eyes shut to fight the tears, his throat burning with everything he had been holding in. He let himself slide down the door and to the floor, where he covered his face with both hands as the crime scene became alive behind his eyelids. Firstly, the grey carpet in the living room, the pristine white of some decorative figurines on the shelves, the light beige of the armchairs’ leather… and finally, the intense red of the blood, of the hearts, of the pomegranate and the pansy’s petals…

The entire scene, from beginning to end, was a message the _Ripper_ was sending to the person he had been sending all his previous messages. Messages he had sent to _Will_. He was telling him, ‘ _You were right, you have been right all along.’_ The Ripper’s crime scenes had become messages, he _was_ sending those as messages because he was in love, because he wanted to be seen and understood… and him leaving the hearts of the two people who had misbehaved was his way of giving Will a final gift, the last piece of the puzzle he needed: Hannibal _was_ the Ripper.

Will opened his eyes again as he let out a shaky breath, the waves of heat making his stomach turn again. Because the worst part wasn’t the realization; the worst was that the shock he was feeling was _because_ the realization hadn’t surprised him at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ookay, woah. I'm really sorry it's taking me so long to write these last chapters. I've already set the chapters as 21, as I think the next one should be the last one. It's possible that they will be 22, but no more :)
> 
> Thanks a million to those who are still here, reading this<3

**Author's Note:**

> \----
> 
> All information + links about my writing are [here](https://about.me/mizumohno).
> 
> Say hello to me @ [twitter](https://twitter.com/mizumohno) and [tumblr](http://starkaryen.tumblr.com/) :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * ["A Fortunate Wound" FanArt](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13524063) by [marlahanni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/marlahanni/pseuds/marlahanni)




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